Augustus Robert Towers Jr. ’45 *52

Professor Bob Towers died May 2, 1995, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, of pancreatic cancer.

Bob entered Princeton from St. Christopher's in Richmond and was a member of Cloister Inn.

He served in the field artillery in WWII and later became vice-consul for the U.S. in Calcutta. He earned his Princeton degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, earning his master's in 1949 and doctorate in 1952.

After teaching at Princeton, he taught for many years at Queens College (C.U.N.Y.) and finally at Columbia, where he directed the graduate writing program.

Bob published two well-received novels, The Necklace of Kali in 1960 and The Monkey Watcher in 1964. He met his wife, Patricia Locke, in Maine, and she notes that she was so taken with his gift of his second book that she married him! She continues her career as features editor of Elle magazine. Bob published a third book, The Summoning, in 1983 and continued his book reviews for the N.Y. Times, the N. Y. Review of Books, and other publications until his death.

Bob also is survived by his daughter, Sarah, by a brother, Thomas R., and a sister, Margaret Talman. To Pat and to the family, the class extends its sympathy on the loss of this distinguished classmate.

The Class of 1945