In his final president’s message he wrote, in part, “The past five years have been most rewarding ones for me. . . . Thanks and my warmest regards to one and all. You are a marvelous group.” His classmates felt no less warmly toward him. He was co-chair with Bill Cruikshank of our 15th reunion, vice president for Annual Giving from 1969 to 1974, and the host of our Philly Mini in 1979.
After Princeton and Penn Law School, Bayard joined the Pennsylvania Railroad and became corporate secretary. Although he found the work “agreeable most of the time,” he felt that the time he devoted to charitable organizations — like Travelers Aid of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf — was more rewarding. It’s “a normal human reaction,” he said, “to feel uplifted when you think you are lending a hand to people less fortunate than yourself.”
In 1938 Bayard married Louise “Weasel” McIlhenny, who died in 2004. The couple had four daughters, the youngest of whom, Selina R. Ottum, died in 1990. Surviving are daughters Louise R. Johnston, Sydney R. Rockefeller, and Patricia Roberts; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and Bayard’s companion, Frances D. Borie.