Memorials - December 2, 1998


Malcolm Foster '32

Mal Foster died Sept. 10, 1998, at his home in NYC.

Mal attended Harvard Business School for two years, earning an MBA. Shortly thereafter he became v.p. of De Pinna & Co. and stayed there, except for military service, until 1950. Thereafter he managed his own business in plastics, carbonation, and mail orders. In his semi-retirement, Mal spent six weeks each year in his condominium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; he also enjoyed frequent cruises and vacations.

Besides being a loyal member of our class and attending our reunions regularly, he procured our final reunion costume, which featured the large orange hats on which we have received so many compliments.

In Oct. 1939, Mal married Helen Friendly, and she survives him, along with their children, Barbara and Malcolm Jr. To all his survivors the class expresses its deep sympathy.

The Class of 1932

Harold A. Loewenheim '32

A leader in the life insurance industry, Harold Loewenheim died Sept. 9, 1998, at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC.

After Princeton he began his insurance career as an agent for Continental American, moved to Mutual Benefit, and then joined Home Life Insurance Co. In 1950 he became manager of a new branch office that he built into one of the company's leading operations. He retired as a manager in 1977 but continued to work as agent until last year.

Harold was president of the New York Chartered Life Underwriters, the State and City Life Underwriters Assn., and the NYC General Agents and Managers Assn. A founder of the New York Center for Financial Studies, an educational affiliate, he was its chairman and president. He received numerous awards from insurance organizations. He was a founder of the Larchmont Temple, a board member of the Westchester Jewish Community Service Society, and chairman of fundraising for the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. He was treasurer, v.p., and president of the Interfaith Neighborhood organization.

In 1934 Harold married Virginia Speyer, with whom he raised three children. After her death in 1969, he married Susan Gropper, who survives him, along with two daughters, three sons, six grandchildren, and a greatgrandson. The class is proud to have shared with them the life of this outstanding citizen.

The Class of 1932

Robert Ketcham Holton '34

Bob Holton, class v.p., died Oct. 19, 1998, in Hightstown, N.J., less than three weeks after his 87th birthday. A widower who spent most of his life in Essex Fells, N.J., he spent the last seven months at Meadow Lakes, a retirement community near Princeton.

Bob, who was the son of Charles W. Holton '04, had a varied business career working over the years in several different positions, including WWII duty as a Navy lieutenant at the Power Plant Design Branch of the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington. He wound up as a pension consultant with the Natl. Employee Relation Institute, in Newark, N.J. "This was my best and longest situation," he wrote, and he held it until he retired, in 1972.

In Essex Fells, Bob was at one time or another president of the town council, battalion chief of the fire department, a scoutmaster, and a member of the United Way Council for Social Welfare and of the Essex County Advisory Board.

In 1941 he married Eleanor "Al" Mildram (Vassar '31), who died in 1989. The couple had two sons, Stephen and David, who survive, as do two sisters, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. To them we offer our sincere sympathies.

The Class of 1934

Louis Bateman Blissard '35

Lou Blissard died May 8, 1998, in Honolulu after a short illness. He was born in Port Norris, N.J., in 1913 and came to Princeton from the Peddie School. He majored in politics and played saxophone in the University Band. After college he headed for law school and earned an LLB in 1938 at the U. of Virginia. The war interfered with his legal career, and he joined the Marines at Iwo Jima, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He married Frances Morgan in 1945, and they had a daughter, Lani Olinda.

After the war Lou established a law practice in Honolulu with the federal government, and the family enjoyed Hawaiian society and its pleasant associations. We send our deepest sympathies to the family with best wishes for the future.

The Class of 1935

William B. Gold Jr. '35

William B. Gold Jr., a Phi Beta Kappa member of our class, died July 13, 1998, of renal failure. He was 84. He was a socially prominent lawyer, a WWII veteran, and one of the great joiners of organizations. By his own count he belonged to more than 70 organizations reflecting military, cultural, and genealogical interests.

Bill came to Princeton from Penn Charter School, majored in politics, and belonged to Court Club. He served in the Army as aide de camp to the commander of the 29th Infantry. After the war he returned to private law practice working mostly in estates and trusts. He had married Marjorie Tonner in 1942 and they were parents of four daughters, Florence, Katharine, Marjorie, and Caroline; they also had five grandchildren. His organizational memberships included, to mention just a few: Netherlands Society, St. Nicholas Society, St. Andrews Society, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Sons of the American Revolution, Reserve Officers Assn., and the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania.

To say that Bill will be missed is a great understatement. We send deepest sympathy to the entire family and will treasure the memory of a unique individual.

The Class of 1935

Kurt Ladenburg '35 *39

Dr. Kurt Ladenburg died July 30, 1998, of a stroke, in Kitty Hawk, N.C. He was 83. He graduated with honors and received a PhD in chemistry in 1939. Born in Breslau, Germany, he was the son of Princeton physics professor Rudolph Ladenburg (Institute of Advanced Study) and Else, a gifted artist who lived in Princeton until her death.

Kurt was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship at Stanford U. and subsequently was employed by Merck Pharmaceutical Co. in Rahway, N.J., where he joined the team that developed and manufactured penicillin. During the 1960s he was director of research for Fallstaff Brewing Co. in St. Louis, served as the chemical adviser to the American Brewing Assn., and was elected as a fellow of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science in 1967. He later worked as a senior research consultant for Monsanto Co. during the early 1970s. In his retirement, Kurt was a visiting professor at Clemson U.'s graduate school of agriculture and biological engineering. He also led several research projects for the state of South Carolina for the development of gasohol and the chemical sweetener aspartame. Survivors are his wife, Amanda, son Nils, daughter Toni Delacorte, and sister Eva Mayer. The class sends most sincere condolences to all.

The Class of 1935

Charles Abraham Owen Jr. '35 *36

Charles Abraham Owen Jr. died July 24, 1998. He was 84. He was born June 5, 1914, in Johnstown, Pa. Charles prepared at Rumsey Hall and Lawrenceville. He received degrees from Princeton and New College, Oxford, and began teaching at the U. of Buffalo in 1938.

During WWII, he served as a captain in the Army. In 1946 he married Mabel DeGeer Welles, sister of Edward '28 and Sam '35. He taught in the English department of the U. of Connecticut from 1946 until his retirement in 1981. In 1982 he taught at Trinity College, Dublin. He continued to take part in Chaucer scholarship and recently returned from the New Chaucer Society's conference in Paris. His published books are Discussions of the Canterbury Tales (1961), Pilgrimage and Storytelling in the Canterbury Tales (1977), and The Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales (1991). Owen was a member of the Modern Language Assn., the New England Medieval Conference, the Medieval Academy of America, and the New Chaucer Society, and was a cofounder of the medieval studies program at UConn. He is survived by his wife, Mabel; his children, Lucy, Sarah Tabor, Jennifer '74, and Charles '77; and his grandchildren, Philip Tabor and Jennifer Tabor.

The Class of 1935

Irving E. Segal '37

A brilliant mathematician whose work had applications in quantum mechanics and astrophysics, Irving Segal died Aug. 30, 1998. He was 79. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Martha, children Miriam, William, Andrew, and Karen, and four grandchildren.

He prepared at Trenton H.S., where he was into publications, and majored in mathematics at Princeton. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, graduated with highest honors, and was awarded the George B. Covington Prize in Mathematics. After graduate school at Yale until 1940 and teaching at Harvard, he joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton on a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, working from 1941-43 under Albert Einstein. He next had an Army career in the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He was professor of mathematics at the U. of Chicago from 1948-60 and then spent 28 years as an expert on functional and harmonic analysis at MIT until he retired, emeritus, in 1989. Back in 1947, he introduced a system of postulates for general quantum mechanics that reworked a number of key concepts and later applied his chronometric theory to astrophysics, leading to a new theory of the red-shift in light from receding stars and a new model of the universe.

The Class of 1937

Livingston Day Watrous '38

Pete Watrous died Sept. 1, 1998, at his home on Nantucket. Pete attended Kent School and at Princeton majored in politics and was a member of the Triangle and Colonial Clubs. After graduation he earned an advanced degree in political science at Columbia and then joined the Foreign Service in 1940, serving on the Mexican border, then over the years, successively, in Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Paris, and Madrid. During WWII, he monitored German activity in Latin America. Early in his career he received diplomas from the NATO Defense College and the U.S. Army War College. His final foreign assignment, beginning in 1964, was consul general in Capetown, South Africa. In 1968 he moved to the State Dept. in Washington.

Pete retired in 1971 and moved to Nantucket, where he was director of the Nantucket Land Council. Pete is survived by his wife, Alicia, daughter Patricia, sons Livingston '66 and Peter, stepson Robert Johnson, and three grandchildren, to all of whom the class extends its deep sympathy.

The Class of 1938

James Winslow Hundley '40

Lifelong Baltimorean Jim Hundley died Sept. 1, 1998, at his summer home at Watch Hill, R.I. Classmates Beau Pearre and Harry Turner attended his services in Ruxton, Md. Jim (known as "The Snake" to his close Princeton friends) prepared at St. Paul's School and majored in mechanical engineering. He played freshman hockey, enjoyed the game of squash, and belonged to Cottage Club. His roommates senior year were Jim Burkham, Al Fuller, Crawf Madeira, and Ralph Yardley. From 1942-46 Jim served as a naval officer conducting research at the Patuxent [Md.] Naval Air Station. For over 25 years he was an engineering executive with Koppers Co., Inc.

In college Jim was a quiet, wellliked figure who enjoyed all aspects of undergraduate life. Although he did not play team sports, he did display remarkable athletic ability when the spirit moved him. In later years Jim engaged in waterfowl hunting and deepsea fishing. Golf, a large and growing family, gardening, and travel occupied much of his retirement life.

Jim is survived by his wife, Virginia "Bunnie," sons James and Charles, daughters Louise McLean, Charlotte Nelsen, and Virginia Shea, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. To them all the class extends its deepest sympathy and is saddened at the loss of an affable and friendly classmate.

The Class of 1940

Reynolds Wait Bell '45

Nick Bell died Feb. 7, 1997, at home after a long illness. Nick prepared at Hill School, following his father, John A. Bell Jr. '08, and his brother, John A. III '41, and joined Ivy. He played freshman and varsity polo. His Princeton studies were interrupted by service in the Army Air Corps Troop Carrier Command, where he was a crew chief instructor. He returned to Princeton, earning a degree in economics in 1948.

After graduation, Nick joined his father's company, Southwest Supply, in Houston, and became e.v.p. He founded Barge Service Corp., transporting carloads of oil-field pipeline from Pittsburgh to Houston by canal and river. In 1950 Nick married Alice Headley; they returned to Lexington, Ky., in 1959. He and Alice built Mill Ridge Farm, where they bred and raised six stakes winners including Sir Ivor, a world-champion winner of the English Derby. In 1965 Nick founded Bell, Inc., a landscaping company. Nick was divorced in 1965; in 1967 he married Elizabeth Keller. He returned to raising thoroughbreds for racing and for sale at auction, and in 1977 became a consultant in that field.

In addition to Betty and his brother John, Nick is survived by sons Headley, Reynolds W. Jr., and Michael, and a daughter, Patricia Bell Houston. The class extends its deep sympathy to the family.

The Class of 1945

John S. Hegeman '45

Dr. John S. Hegeman died Mar. 3, 1998, in Bradenton, Fla., from complications associated with Parkinson's disease. John entered Princeton with the large contingent from Lawrenceville, son of Runkle Hegeman '06. He was a member of Cap and Gown. His Princeton education was interrupted at the end of his freshman year with service in the Marine Air Corps as a transport pilot in the Pacific, flying with the Air Group 25 in New Caledonia and Bougainville. He returned to Princeton at the end of the war and graduated magna cum laude in psychology in 1947.

John attended Columbia U. College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating in 1951. While in medical school he married Jean Rogan in 1949. After internship and residency, he established a surgical practice in Somerville, N.J. He practiced at Somerset Medical Center until he retired in 1977. In later years John married Grace Zeng and moved to Florida. He is survived by his children John, Thomas, and Patricia, to whom the class extends its sympathy.

The Class of 1945

Andrew Thompson Wiley '45

Dr. Andrew "Andy" Wiley died Apr. 4, 1998, of a heart attack in his home in Columbia, Md. He entered Princeton from Morristown H.S., accelerated his studies, and received his AB in biology in 1944, as one of the earliest in the class to graduate.

After service in the Army Specialized Training Program, he received his medical degree from the U. of Pennsylvania in 1947. He went on to work as an Army Medical Officer in Japan; to volunteer with his wife, the former Trudi van Eerde, in medical relief work in Kunsan, Korea, under the auspices of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers); and to complete surgical training and practice surgery in Kentucky and Tennessee for the next 10 years.

He left this field to join the Peace Corps in Tonga, Polynesia, and to follow his prime interest, global family planning, in which field he worked nationally and internationally for the next 20 years. In an innovative way, Andy represented the best of Princeton in the nation's service and in the service of the world. In addition to Trudi and his brother Stephen '51, Andy is survived by his daughter Kim Ciurej; sons Mark, Geoffrey, and Peter; his sister, Margaret Anderson; his brothers Joseph and Jackson; and by five grandchildren, to all of whom the class extends its deep sympathy.

The Class of 1945

Roy C. Olson Jr. '57

Roy "Ole" Olson died Sept. 3, 1998, at his home in Beaufort, S.C., after a long battle with cancer. He was born in Jackson Heights, Long Island, and graduated from Schreiber H.S., where he lettered in football.

At Princeton, Roy joined Tower Club and majored in geological engineering. He lived in the Rockefeller Suite with Jack K., Bill Mc., Bill R., Jim R., Bill T., Chris Mc., Gordon Mc., Tom F., and Scott B. He loved Princeton and was a loyal alumnus.

After college Roy entered the Army Reserve in 1958 and married Linda Boll. He became a geologist for Mobil Corp., spending most of his career overseas in Venezuela, Libya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, then in the U.S., in NYC, Dallas, and New Orleans. He had exciting experiences, just missing the Six-Day War in Libya and, subsequently, Haile Selassie being deposed in Ethiopia.

The class joins in sending its sincere condolences to his wife, Linda; daughters Carter and Cory; mother, Ruth; and sister Natalie.

The Class of 1957

Walter F. Weiss '57

Walter F. "Rick" Weiss died Feb. 3, 1998, at his home in Washington, D.C., of congestive heart failure. He was born in Shenandoah, Iowa. The family moved to Milwaukee, where he graduated from Sherwood H.S.

At Princeton Rick played 150-lb. football, worked for the campus fund drive, and was active in the student Christian association. He majored in history and joined Tiger Inn. His senior year roommates were John Thomas, Frank Jones, Pete Kohler, and Tim O'Leary.

After college Rick served in the military and did graduate work at the U. of Iowa and UC-Berkeley. He joined the Foreign Service in 1964, at first in Palermo and Trieste, Italy. In 1968 he returned to the U.S., to Washington, D.C., focusing on legislative affairs with the Executive Office of the President, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the State Dept. He retired as deputy assistant secretary of state for operations in 1984.

Subsequently he consulted on congressional affairs for businessmen, law firms, and the American Foreign Service Assn. He supported his church, wildlife, and medical causes.

Surviving are his widow, Anne, son Charles '85, daughter Claire, sisters Judith and Janet, and granddaughter Alexandra. The class extends its sincerest sympathy to them.

The Class of 1957


paw@princeton.edu