An East Lansing (Mich.) High School graduate, at Princeton he was the Prospect Club secretary, a Glee Club member, and the Student Directory manager. He majored in the School of Public and International Affairs.
After graduate school at the University of Michigan, where he met and married Beverly Amann in 1954, he began his first career by teaching political science at Eastern Michigan University. In 1962 he joined Michigan Gov. George Romney’s staff, serving the last four years in Washington as Romney’s executive assistant at Housing and Urban Development. He moved on to become chief of staff for Sentate Minority Whip Bob Griffin and Virginia Sen. John Warner. A perk of the latter was “my association with the senator’s then-wife, Elizabeth Taylor.”
A near-fatal heart attack in 1982 abruptly ended his political career. A quintuple bypass restored his health, but prompted him to join Beverly’s antique business and relocate to Gettysburg, Pa. Eventually, their Midwestern roots pulled them back to Michigan, specifically to Grand Traverse Bay, where they opened the Applegate Collection, an antique shop that specialized in wicker furniture. “Real retirement” came in 2007 when they closed the shop.
Al was predeceased by Beverly in 2016. He is survived by daughter Susan, one grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.