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November 2, 2005: Memorials
JOHN NORRIS RENNEBURG ’33
John died of a bleeding ulcer Aug. 29, 2005, at the age of 93.
He was a graduate of Gilman School in Baltimore. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton in politics and later received a law degree from the University of Maryland. He went to work for the family business until World War II, when he enlisted in the Navy. After the war he returned to his company.
John had a great and wonderful life. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; son John Norris Jr.; a daughter, Carol Renneburg Pratt; and four grandchildren.
The Class of 1933
JOHN H. WEST JR. ’36
John died July 26, 2005. He was 90.
At Princeton he majored in politics and was a member of Cap and Gown. After graduation he toured the world for nine months, visiting Europe, Africa, India, and the Far East. Returning home, he joined the Enterprise Fuel Co. of Baltimore, which was established by his father. John served as president from 1955 to 1980, when the company was sold.
During World War II he served three years as a Navy communications officer on two minesweepers in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. His rank was lieutenant junior grade.
Among his community activities, John served as a volunteer executive of Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore and the Friendly Inn Association and was on the board of the Home Life Insurance Co.
He enjoyed reading, travel, and golf. He had a special interest in New Hampshire’s Camp Pasquaney, which he attended as a camper and counselor from 1928 to 1937. His son, grandsons, nephews, and great-nephews all attended the boys’ camp.
John is survived by his wife of 66 years, the former Jeanne Harrison; a son, John H. III; daughters Jeanne W. Riggs, Mary H.W. Neblett, and Anne W.W. Katsman; 11 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
The Class of 1936
ASHBEL T. WALL III ’37
Ash died in Wakefield, R.I., Aug. 4, 2005. He was 90.
He was born in Providence and entered Princeton from St. George’s School. He majored in philosophy, was active in Inter-Club sports, and was a member of Ivy Club.
On his mother’s side he was a direct descendant of the family that established the Brooks Brothers clothing firm in 1818. With the exception of two years of Army service during World War II, Ash spent his entire business career with Brooks Brothers, retiring in 1975 as vice president after 35 years with the company.
In retirement he was a driver for the Jamestown (R.I.) Red Cross Motor Corp., and enjoyed sailing and considerable traveling.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and a large extended family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held Aug. 19 at St. George’s School Chapel in Middletown, R.I. The class has lost a loyal member and extends its sympathy to all of Ash’s family.
The Class of 1937
RODNEY GODDARD ALLER ’38
Rod died unexpectedly of pneumonia following a brief illness March 21, 2005, at Sharon (Conn.) Hospital.
The iron man of the class, he was probably the country’s outstanding competitive gentleman skier. A lawyer by profession, Rod regularly won the national championship in his age bracket into his late 80s, usually winning all three events — downhill, slalom, and giant slalom. In 2002 he won four gold medals in World Championship Masters Skiing in Abetone, Italy.
Rod came to Princeton from Hotchkiss. He roomed with Don Jerrems the first two years, then with Jerrems, G. Jones, and R. Corbin. He played freshman football and varsity rugby. He formed and captained the ski team. He was a member of Tiger Inn.
After Yale Law School, service as a Navy officer in World War II, and marriage to Mary Claire Ullram, Rod settled in Lakeville, Conn., as a country lawyer. The Allers’ hospitality at their home on Lake Wononscopomuc was legendary. That marriage ended in divorce.
His second wife, Anne Wing, survives him, as does his son Rodney G. Jr.; daughters Cassie Cammann and Constance Draper; their mother; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren, to all of whom the class extends its hearfelt sympathy.
The Class of 1938
Robert Dale Gilliam ’39
Bob died suddenly and unexpectedly March 22, 2005, in Florence, Ore.
An ophthalmologist, he received his medical degree from Temple University in 1945. As a lieutenant commander in the Navy, he served on a destroyer in the Atlantic, a carrier in the Pacific, and a hospital ship in Korea. He received personal commendation for eye surgery performed on Army personnel. His lifelong medical practice was in Oceanside, Calif., until he retired in 1980.
In retirement, he still played golf, swam, sailed, and ran. Of his golf, he was proud to say he had made five holes-in-one. His wife, Patricia, said he was always up for an adventure, including a move to Las Vegas and taking a yearlong tour of the U.S. by motor home. After a while, he was ready for something else. He wanted to live by a lake. They found that dream home on a lake in Florence. He enjoyed just nine months there before his death.
Bob is survived by Patricia, whom he married in 1962; his sons Robert and Donnel; daughter Donna; and stepchildren, Diedre, Susan, and David. We offer them all our sincere sympathy.
The Class of 1939
Edgar John Uihlein Jr. ’40
The Chicago Sun-Times headline read “Co-Founder of General Binding”; the article described Ed as an accomplished flight instructor and venture capitalist who died May 19, 2005. His son Dick said, “He lived a very full life. He was a great man. A kind man.”
We remember him from his days on campus as a member of crew, the Glee Club, and Colonial. Ed prepared at Hotchkiss; at Princeton, he majored in modern languages. After classes he would ride his bicycle to a nearby airfield to take flying lessons. In 1940 he secured his commission in the Navy. After serving as a lieutenant commander, he was made chief flight instructor at Glenview Naval Air Station.
A wartime pledge with his Navy buddy, Bill Lane, led to their founding General Binding Corp., which became a world leader in designing and manufacturing office equipment. In the 1960s, he began funding successful young companies, and served on the boards of schools, hospitals, museums, and various charities. “Love of family and country were the driving forces behind everything our father did,” said his daughter Lucia. (“Love of country” included his ardent passion for Northwoods muskie fishing.)
In addition to Dick and Lucia, Ed is survived by Lucia, his wife of 64 years; daughter Sally; sons Ted and Steve; 10 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. To them, his classmates extend sincere condolences.
The Class of 1940
ARTHUR ERNEST MITTNACHT JR. ’42
Art, an orthopedic surgeon devoted to his patients, family, friends, and Princeton, died July 14, 2005, of complications from leukemia in Pinehurst, N.C.
A graduate of Kent School, he majored in biology at Princeton, earned letters in 150-pound crew and football, and was a member of the Glee Club and Ivy Club. Upon graduation from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, Art, a lieutenant junior grade, served 32 months in the Navy including a memorable post-World War II round-the-world goodwill tour.
Following residencies in Memphis and in Philadelphia, where in 1952 he met and married Nancy Bracy, who worked in the same hospital, Art was certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and joined Princeton Orthopedic Group. There, until his retirement in 1992, he was “busily occupied mending bones and joints of fellow Prince-
tonians” and enjoying dinghy racing on Lake Carnegie and golf holidays with Nancy and their children, Arthur, John, Lisa, and Peter.
After Art’s retirement he and Nancy moved to the Lawn and Tennis Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst. Although retired from active practice, Art continued his interest in orthopedics and served as a disability consultant for several years.
To Nancy, the children, and their families, the class expresses deepest sympathy.
The Class of 1942
WILLIAM TRUBEE HAEBLER ’44
Bill died July 15, 2005. We knew him as both “Trub” and “Bill,” but after his adoption by his stepfather, it was “Bill.” We also knew him as a multisport athlete, yacht club commodore, and a member of Westminster Society’s executive committee and Cap and Gown Club.
A lifelong New Jersey resident, he prepped at Lawrenceville, was a distance swimmer on the AAU’s All-American team in 1942 and served as an artillery first lieutenant in Europe (earning two battle stars). He graduated from Princeton in 1947. Bill worked in sales for Procter & Gamble and the Addressograph-Multigraph Corp.
Bill’s sailing — with his wife, Joyce — took him far. He was a past commodore of the North Jersey Yacht Racing Association, past president of the Eastern Ice Yacht Racing Association, and a senior judge and executive of the U.S. Sailing Association. He and Joyce kept a sailboat in St. Lucia, sailing the Grenadines, British Virgins, Tonga, and French Polynesian islands.
Bill is survived by Joyce, his wife of 40 years; three sons, Theodore, Philip, and William Jr.; a daughter, Wendy Worrell; two stepdaughters, Leslie Diggins and Tedi Dickinson; a half-brother, John Trubee; and seven grandchildren. We wish fair winds always, to our Bill and to his family.
The Class of 1944
David W.K. Peacock Jr. ’46
Dave died in Washington, D.C., July 30, 2005, of Parkinson’s disease. He joined us at Princeton in 1942, served in the Air Corps until 1945 as a second lieutenant, and graduated with many of us in 1948.
Dave held a number of important jobs in his career, one of the first being Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ special assistant. He served briefly then in the Foreign Service in Casablanca before joining the staff of New York Sen. Kenneth Keating. His next move was to the Commerce Department, where he served as deputy undersecretary. Later assignments took him to the International Finance Corp., the World Bank, and the Export-Import Bank. Earlier endeavors included farming in north Jersey and a brief stint at J.P. Morgan.
Dave’s first marriage ended in divorce but gave him two children, Sarah and Bill, and four grandchildren. We send our condolences to them as well as to Mary, his wife of 32 years. Dave’s brother, John ’46, who was with him in Colonial Club, also survives, .
The class will sorely miss this devoted member and loyal Tiger.
The Class of 1946
Seymour Barton Levinson ’48
Buddy, as he was known to his family, died May 29, 2005. He was 78 and a lifelong Norfolk, Va., resident.
Buddy was involved with crew and fencing at Princeton. As his wife of 53 years, Natalie, put it: “He was coxswain of a secondary shell, no challenge to the legendary Pete Rosenbaum.” Bud enjoyed his membership in Terrace Club, she said. After service in the Navy from 1944 to 1946, he graduated in June 1947 with honors in economics.
Bud’s primary business career was in Norfolk-based men’s clothing. First he took over a family-owned store and then added a second. Subsequently, he was involved in unrelated business activities.
Bud was heavily involved in Jewish organizations, having been president of Ohef Sholom Temple, chairman of the Tidewater Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and chairman of the executive committee of the Anti-Defamation League. He was also a volunteer with health-care enterprises.
Bud is survived by Natalie and three children, Jules ’75, Gail, and Robert. He was an exemplar of the best that is Princeton. He said “work was great and rewarding, but not nearly as rewarding as volunteer activities.”
The Class of 1948
Fred John Ritzer ’48
Fred died Aug. 8, 2005. He was 83.
He and his wife, Velia, resided in Cape Coral, Fla. They were married in 1987. Fred’s first wife, Lois Ann, mother of their daughter, Kathy, died previously.
A native of Jersey City, Fred served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946 prior to attending Princeton. He was a member of Elm and of Whig-Clio, and graduated with a degree in economics in 1947.
Fred’s career was in sales. He started with Prudential Life Insurance and held positions in a variety of companies before establishing his own sales agency. This endeavor was very successful.
In 1990 he and Velia moved to Florida, where they built a house in Cape Coral. Fred enjoyed boating, golfing, and fishing, and had a great interest in the local symphony orchestra. He was an elder of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
To Velia and Kathy, the class extends its condolences.
The Class of 1948
E. NORMAN CARLSON JR. ’50
Norm died May 14, 2005, in his hometown of Webster Groves, Mo.
A series of illnesses deprived him of fulfilling his promising potential, but at our 50th, Norm concluded that he was “a happy man and would repeat the next 50 years the same way.”
He came to Princeton from Webster Groves High School, where he was an outstanding athlete. He played football and basketball his freshman year. He transferred to the Naval Academy the next year, graduated as an ensign in 1951, and served two Korean tours of duty. Norm resigned from the Navy in 1955. He returned to St. Louis, where he taught math and coached in high school until 1961, when he suffered a nervous breakdown.
Norm had three children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1964. He married Elizabeth Thompson, a Panamanian, in 1973. She came to the U.S. after graduating from the University of Panama and taught physical education and Spanish in St. Louis while caring for Norm.
Though Norm left us after his freshman year, he retained a fondness for Princeton. Our condolences go to Elizabeth and his five children, including Leonore ’07.
The Class of 1950
CHARLES A. KING ’50
Charlie died from abdominal cancer June 26, 2005, in Hartford (Conn.) Hospital.
He graduated from Andover Academy in 1945, then served in the Navy. At Princeton, he majored in architecture and belonged to Cottage. After graduation, he married Louine Brown and moved to New Haven to earn another bachelor’s degree in architecture, this time at Yale. Charlie delighted in recounting how this became a master’s five years later when Yale wrote that for $50 they would send him a master’s sheepskin.
Charlie and his fledgling family moved to Hartford in 1953, where he started his own architectural practice in 1955. From house design, including his own, he gradually became a church specialist, though before his retirement in 1996 he became deeply involved with town hall and library design. Not one to hang it up completely after retirement, he created a home office and continued as a church consultant.
Charlie was a talented watercolorist whose work was exhibited widely in the greater Hartford area, and an enthusiastic fly fisherman. His most recent civic service was more than 20 years as a board member of a retirement community.
We extend our sympathy to Louine, his wife of 55 years, his four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
The Class of 1950
FRANK WATERS ROGERS JR. ’51
We lost Bo Rogers July 11, 2005.
Born in Roanoke, Va., Dec. 10, 1928, he and his twin brother, Bob, prepared for Princeton at Episcopal High School. An economics major, Bo was in the choir, Pre-Law Society, Whig-Clio, and Tower Club, and went out for 150-pound football and varsity tennis. He and Bob roomed with Neill Schaller and Tim Barclay. At UVA he was on the Law Review. He later earned a master’s of law from Georgetown in taxation.
From 1954 to 1958 he served in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and for a period of time he worked in the tax division of the Department of Justice. By 1960 he and his brother had entered into practice with their father in the Roanoke law firm now known as Woods Rogers, where he remained until his death.
Bo and Laurine Kunkel were married in 1955 and had three children, Frank W. III, Molly Cramer, and Nancy. He is survived by them and by his sisters, Anne Vaden and Virginia Holton. His memorial service was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, where he had served on the vestry and as junior warden. His brother Bob died in 1976.
The Class of 1951
FRANK J. COSENTINO ’56
Frank died Aug. 9, 2005, at home in Princeton, after a brief battle with multiple myeloma.
At Tappan Zee High School, he was president of the student body, valedictorian, and was selected for all-county teams in football, basketball, and baseball in his junior and senior years.
After majoring in geology at Princeton, he served two years with the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in Germany. In 1959, he joined Edward Marshall Boehm in Trenton, N.J., eventually becoming president of the porcelain company and its subsidiaries. During his 33-year career at Boehm, he traveled and lectured extensively and authored three books, including a biography of Edward Marshall Boehm.
Frank’s great love was golf. Junior golf champion in five New York counties, he was captain of the Princeton Golf Team his senior year, losing only one match in four years.
Many classmates attended his memorial service at Springdale Golf Club Sept. 11, where Royce Flippin recalled Frank’s special place on the football teams from freshman to senior years, and his great good nature and enthusiasm for life.
The class extends deepest sympathy to his wife of 11 years, Nancy Holmes Cosentino; his daughter, Laura; and two stepdaughters, Regan Hofmann and Tracy Hofmann Rosen.
The Class of 1956
Christopher H. Clutz ’58
Chris died May 19, 2005, after a courageous 15-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Chris came to Princeton from Radnor (Pa.) High School. A civil engineering major, he was a member of Cannon Club. During his senior year he roomed with Joe Croft, Thor Halvorson, Sarge Karch, and Chuck Wittmann. After two years with a New York City consulting firm, he went to Harvard Business School.
Soon thereafter he joined Smith Barney’s corporate finance group, where he became a first vice president. In 1986, after 20 years with Smith Barney, the family moved to Chicago where Chris bought an office-supply company and later became an independent financial consultant. At the time of his death he was chairman of the executive committee of Cloyes Gear and Products Co., an international automobile-parts business.
Chris was a regular attendee at major reunions and worked hard in the class’ Annual Giving effort until limited by his illness. Chris took great pride in his family and enjoyed camping, especially along the Greenbrier River in West Virginia.
He leaves Barbara, his devoted wife of 41 years, whom he met at our fifth reunion; children Kathryn ’86 and Christopher John ’89; brothers John ’52 and Richard ’56, and his sister, Signe Hammer. To all, the class offers deepest condolences.
The Class of 1958
Richard Allen Thompson ’58
Dick died July 21, 2003, after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
Dick came to Princeton from Wilmington (Del.) Friends School. He joined Tower Club and majored in the Woodrow Wilson School. His senior-year roommates were Harry Hadley, Dave Dantzscher, and Owen Terry.
After leaving Princeton and a brief stint teaching, he joined Delaware Trust Co. He was active in many civic organizations in Wilmington, earning the Wilmington Jaycees Young Man of the Year award in 1967. Later he moved to the Atlanta area, where he became involved, to quote his own words, in “the wacky, wonderful world of selling real estate.”
In 1988, Dick won the Governor’s Award for Academic Achievement for the Georgia Association of Realtors and was a member of the Georgia Board of Realtors.
Dick had a very positive outlook on life. In our 45th-reunion book shortly before he died, he wrote that he felt extremely lucky to be here and he valued and treasured each day.
He leaves his devoted wife, Joyce; son Jeffrey; daughters Anne and Elizabeth; brothers David and George; sisters Joyce and Nancy; and six grandchildren. To all, the class extends its belated but most sincere sympathy.
The Class of 1958
JOHN EDWARD FAVORS (BHAKTI TIRTHA SWAMI) ’72
One of 1972’s most distinguished and widely traveled members, His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami, died June 27, 2005, of complications from melanoma, at Gita Nagari, the Krishna community in central Pennsylvania. He was a leading guru and governing body commissioner of the worldwide Hare Krishna movement.
John Favors came to Princeton after graduating from Hawken School in Cleveland. He was at the forefront of political activism on campus, a leader of the Association of Black Collegians (ABC) and a founder of the Third World Center. He majored in psychology.
After Princeton he joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and began a career of worldwide travel, study, teaching, lecturing, and writing. He became a celibate monk in 1979, and rose to a prominent leadership position in the Krishna movement; he was its highest-ranking African American. He met with prominent world figures such as Nelson Mandela and Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, was frequently interviewed in the media, and wrote 15 books.
John is survived by four sisters, Bernadette Satterfield, Julia Henderson, Frances Myers, and Marguerite Brooks; a brother, Paul Favors; and numerous nieces and nephews. The class sends its sincere condolences to his family, friends, and many disciples.
The Class of 1972
Grad alumni
FRANK RATHAUSER *37, Biology, April 25, 2005
RICHARD H. WISWALL JR. *41, Chemistry, Oct. 9, 2004
STANLEY D. IMBER *50, Psychology, June 9, 2005
VASCO J. FENILI *53, Woodrow Wilson School, May 6, 2005
MARTIN G. REDLICH *54, Physics, July 29, 2004
RICHARD L. WEST *54, Civil Engineering, July 22, 2003
STEDMAN B. NOBLE *56, Economics, Feb. 8, 2005
WILLIAM B. BROWNE *57, Aeronautical Engineering, Sept. 1, 2004
ROBIN J. SCROGGS *62, Religion, April 25, 2005
ROBERT C. WANG *78, Chemistry, Feb. 9, 2000
KENNETH MERRYMAN *90, History, May 25, 2004
