Gene was born June 8, 1929, in Aberdeen, S.D., the son of Roy B. and Hazel Hackett Colby.
Raised in Topsham, Maine, he attended school in Brunswick and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. At Princeton he was in the NROTC, majored in chemical engineering, belonged to Dial Lodge, and roomed with Bob Hawkinson, Joe Wilson, and Bill Wolff. After graduation he served in the Navy as engineering officer on a destroyer and was separated in 1954.
Gene and Chloe McIntire were married in 1953. He had only two jobs following graduation: one with the Navy and the other with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. His entire career at P&G was spent in food-products development; the department invented and developed formulas, processes, and packaging for P&G’s food line.
In retirement he was active in the Service Corps of Retired Executives, a group dedicated to advising small-business personnel. In particular, he volunteered in its Starting Business seminar. For years he and his wife spent their summers in Waterford, Maine.
Gene died Oct. 27, 2010, and is survived by his children, Edward, Jr. ’76, Steve, Margaret (“Maggie”), and Grace; four grandsons; and his brother, Lincoln. Chloe predeceased him in 2009.