Bosley died March 29, 2017, of a degenerative bone disease at the Shambhala Meditation Center in Boston, surrounded by his family and friends.

Bosley was raised in Washington, D.C., coming to Princeton in the fall of 1959 from St. Albans School. He carried a family name that had drawn much attention in the late 1940s as a result of accusations of communist affiliations made of his father, Donald, and uncle, Alger. The FBI later completely cleared his father. Bosley, an art history major, took 1960-61 off to tour Italy, also avoiding revived media attention about Richard Nixon’s role in the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings that came up during the presidential campaign. Bosley returned to Princeton in the fall of 1961, joining the Class of 1964. Fellow club members at Colonial recall him as lanky, deeply thoughtful, and always wearing a jacket and bow tie.

After Princeton Bosley traveled extensively to Morocco and Tibet, where he was introduced to Buddhism and eventually took orders as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He became a student of and then private secretary to the distinguished and revered Tibetan lama, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, and Tenga Rinpoche. Soon after the lama’s death, Bosley — who took on the name Yeshe Yongdu — left the monastic community and joined Shambhala in Boston, studying with Khandro Rinpoche. He took a three-year retreat in Germany under Kalu Rinpoche, and served as a tireless volunteer with newer students and in the kitchen, where he loved to cook.

Bosley was predeceased by his sister Cynthia. He is survived by sister Joanna and cousin Tony, to whom the class offers its condolences.

Undergraduate Class of 1964