Alexander McClurg Hogg ’55

There has been no shortage of remarkable people in the Class of  ’55. Near the top of the list is Sandy, who died June 25, 2021, at his home in Half Moon Bay, Calif. 

Sandy was born May 28, 1928, son of F. Trevor Hogg, a member of the Class of 1917 and an All-American football player. Sandy attended Milton Academy, then Andover, and entered Princeton with the Class of 1949. He enlisted in the Army, served in the Korean War, then returned to Princeton to graduate with the Class of  ’55. 

Sandy joined Cap and Gown, majored in the Woodrow Wilson School, and lettered in crew. His son, Alec ’87, said the coach told his dad, “You’re an awful rower, but you pull pretty hard.” He pulled hard for his entire life. 

Alec said, “To the siren song of adventure, Sandy always answered, ‘Yes.’ By a standard of how much money he made, he didn’t do so well. By the standard of living a fulfilling life, his life was as fulfilling as anybody you could know. Every day was an adventure for Sandy. He was larger than life.” 

A partial list of his ventures: Molybdenum miner, yacht crew member on a world cruise, insurance salesman, oil and cattle tax-shelter sales, recycling waste crude oil, trying to convince the Chinese government to invest in affordable birth control, diesel mechanic’s assistant, grain harvester, map salesman, radio-commercial stagehand, merchant mariner, Army truck driver, oil field roughneck, writing birthday rhymes for his grandchildren, and swimming in the moonlight. 

Sandy is survived by his wife, Beatrice — a French woman whom he first encountered as a young lady wearing a blue bikini on a beach in Tripoli; son Alec; daughters Ariane Luckey and Erika Belden; and seven grandchildren. Ariane said of her dad, “He was awesome. We adored him.”