Charles E. Keller ’84

Kel died in his sleep of heart disease in Detroit, Mich., in December of 2024.

He grew up in Grosse Pointe, Mich., entering Princeton as a member of the Class of ’83; he graduated with the Class of ’84 after taking a year off to study abroad. Kel majored in anthropology with a minor in visual arts, studying under both Emmet Gowin and Hildred Geertz. His photography thesis documented Harvest Queen festivals across Kell’s beloved Michigan; the Special Collections of Firestone Library subsequently acquired a group of these photographs, now housed at Marquand Library. Although Kel lived off campus his senior year, he was a regular at Terrace Club and 185 Nassau St. After graduating, he pursued photography, earning an MFA at the University of Michigan in 1988.

Kel’s interest in photography took him around the world, including Minneapolis, Atlanta, Lisbon, Italy, and Brazil, where he both taught and exhibited his work. In 2007, after moving into a family home built in 1844 in Romeo, Mich., Kel wrote a novel based on its history as a station on the Underground Railroad. His interest in history led him to complete a master’s in African American studies and library science at Wayne State. Later writings included My Revolting Memoir, a personal narrative about the Michigan Department of Corrections’ mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and The Mistress of Monticello, a fictional biography of Sally Hemings, the slave and lover of Thomas Jefferson.

His friends and classmates remember Kel for his high-spirited nature and willingness to pursue almost any adventure, no matter how fantastical.