Alfred Vansantvoord Olcott ’44

WHEN VAN OLCOTT died on Jan. 17, our Class lost one of its most devoted members who came from a long line of loyal Princetonians, including his father and two uncles.

Van was born in Riverdale, N. Y., and after graduation in 1943 and three years with the Navy in the Pacific, he joined the Hudson River Day Line, a company owned by his family for over 150 years. After the line was sold, Van married Diana Morgan and moved to the Princeton area where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

Over the years, he was involved in county and state politics, as a mason and a church elder, as a trustee of Quadrangle Club and the University Rowing Association, and co-editor of the Rowing Notes. He was one of the founders of the Hudson River Maritime Center and of the Steamship Historical Society, and lectured widely on the history of transportation in the Hudson River Valley.

But we in '44 will best remember Van as one of the few classmates who never missed a reunion, who served on countless reunion committees, who represented us so often at the Service of Remembrance, and who led our Class cheer before four different Princeton presidents.

To Diana, and to his sons Townsend and Richard, and his daughter Leslie, we extend our sympathy, and our appreciation for the life of a fine gentleman. He was one of the great Tigers.

The Class of 1944