Born in Middletown, Conn., Alan spent a year in France at the University of Strasbourg before entering Princeton in 1939. During World War II, Alan served four years in the Navy, earning the Silver Star for action at Okinawa with the Underwater Demolition Teams, what later became the Navy Seals. In 1947, he earned a degree in history at Princeton and began immersing himself in Middle Eastern studies.
He met his wife, Dorothy Joan Ryder, of Sussex, England, while working in Gaza, aiding Palestinian refugees. They married in 1950 and shared a love of music and a lifelong commitment to service and education around the world. Among his many assignments, Alan served as dean of the graduate faculty at the American University in Cairo, Middle East correspondent for the American Universities Field Staff (AUFS), executive director of the AUFS in 1968, and chairman of the advisory council for Middle East studies at Princeton.
Constantly engaged in political and humanitarian efforts, Alan still found time to become fluent in Arabic; to earn his Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard; to write a novel, The Road to Ramallah; and, with Joan, to raise three children.
Joan died in 2010. Alan is survived by daughter Carol; sons James ’78 and his wife, Nancy, and Edward ’81 and his wife, Zoe; four grandchildren; and sister Elizabeth Breunig.