Benjamin J. Gantt Jr. ’44

Ben, also known as “Bim,” came to us from Wyoming (Ohio) High School, where he graduated cum laude. At Princeton he was on the freshman basketball team, served as associate manager of Triangle Club, and was a member of Whig-Clio and the Princeton Senate and Madison Debating Society. His Princeton roommates included Hugh Stevens, Richard Marsh, T. Richard Morrison, and Hud Stoddard.

After serving as a lieutenant in the Marines during World War II, he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948.

Ben married Doris Henrich in 1946 and moved to Seattle in 1948, where he became a prime city booster and worked 54 years for the law firm of Graham & Dunn.

Ben was active, and frequently an officer, in at least nine professional and civic groups. He served as chair of King County Bar Association’s labor and law section, trustee and board secretary of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and president and trustee of Pacific Legal Foundation.

He is survived by his wife; three children, Catherine Peltz, Peter Gantt, and Chris Gantt; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. The class sends condolences to Ben’s family.