Arthur T. Tienken ’44 *50

Art died from cancer May 7, 2006, at home in Arlington, Va.

"He lived as best he could to the very end," wrote his wife, Jean. "He played golf on Saturday, and Sunday he was gone." A career Foreign Service officer who held ambassadorships to Gabon, Sao Tome, and Principe, Art loved diplomacy; military pomp and bands; being near, on, or in water (particularly the ocean); singing; collecting stamps; Perfect Manhattans; golf; and his privacy.

At Princeton, he was a member of the Glee Club and Tower Club, roomed with Bud Leo and Bob Bennett, and majored in political science. After 40 months in the military in World War II, he earned a bachelor's in 1946 and a master's in 1950 while he and Jean lived in Princeton's housing for returning married veterans. In years of writing us and in our last directory, he treated his foreign service as Jean's, too — it was always "we."

A brother of the late Robert Tienken '46, Art is survived by Jean; daughters Judy, Nancy, and Carol; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Another daughter, Ann, died in 1971. At his service, Art's daughters chose lines from Tennyson's Ulysses that end: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Our class is proud of having him.