Attorney and activist Barbara Brenner *77 challenged the cancer establishment. She died of ALS in May.

Lives Lived and Lost: An Appreciation

Published Jan. 21, 2016

Princeton knows the power of pomp. Students begin their time on campus with a ceremony combining all the seriousness and exuberance of a grand new phase of life; they leave after celebrations — both poignant and raucous — marking four years’ worth of accomplishments, fun, and friendships.

Of all the ceremonies that Princeton does so well, the Service of Remembrance may be the most affecting. It is this Chapel service, held each Alumni Day, that best speaks to the community that is Princeton, by marking the deaths ­— and the lives — of those who recently died. All are remembered: alumni, students, professors, and staff from every department; the famous and those known only to family and friends.

In this annual tribute, PAW celebrates the lives of alumni who died in 2013. Those whose stories are told on the following pages — you may recognize some but not all of the names — represent a small slice of the losses Princeton experienced last year. There are many others: industry giants such as marketing genius Robert Elberson ’50, who introduced the distinctively packaged L’eggs pantyhose brand; scholars like Clifford Nass ’81 *86, who studied how people multitask while using new technologies, and warned of the dangers; “local heroes” such as Dick Kazmaier ’52, Princeton’s only Heisman Trophy winner (see PAW, Sept. 18). Chet Safian ’55 was a lawyer and investment banker but found his true calling as a volunteer and as a co-founder of Princeton Project 55, now called Princeton AlumniCorps. Another alumnus who found satisfaction after retirement was Nelson Runger ’53, a public-relations executive for 30 years before becoming an acclaimed narrator of audiobooks. 

Every alum has a story. Here are just a few.

Click the Lives 2013 tag below to read profiles of 11 alumni whom Princeton lost in 2013.

5 Responses

Gagne Foster *76

8 Years Ago

I was a classmate of Barbara Brenner *77 and Suzanne Lampert *75 at the Woodrow Wilson School and remember them both well. Barbara obviously lived her truth after Princeton in remarkable ways.

Edward P. Jereb *70

8 Years Ago

There must be some Princetonians who lived ordinary lives or lives filled with failures rather than successes. Why not note them for having passed through the same place on the way to the basement instead of the penthouse?

Christine Valentine w’47 *49

8 Years Ago

Today is a cloudy, wintry Montana day — snow falling, cold temperatures.

I read “Lives Lived and Lost” in the Feb. 5 issue of PAW. Those memorials are awe-inspiring and lifted my spirits more than sunshine ever will.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

My dad, Jim Evans ’52, was never outspoken about his Freedom Ride experience (cover story, Feb. 5). Its meaning sank deep into him and didn’t emerge in words, later on, very often. Nonetheless, it resonated in who he was, what he did, and certainly in those who came after — maybe especially his kids. I know that, for me, because of my dad and what he stood for and up to, there is no way on God’s green earth that social justice isn’t the main thing worth fighting for. The conviction that courage is available to any person, enabling him/her to stand up, is in my blood, because of Dad.

James M. Crawford ’54

8 Years Ago

I thought your Feb. 5 issue was an exceptionally fine publication. Will those obituaries-biographies be repeated every year? I hope so.

All issues are excellent, and keep Princeton in our lives. Keep up the good work.

Editors’ note: “Lives Lived and Lost” in the Feb. 5 issue was the second of what the editors hope will be an annual project.

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