Christopher S. Bond ’60

Kit and brother Arthur ’55, were raised in Mexico, Missouri. Kit then attended Deerfield Academy. At Princeton, he played rugby, joined Cottage Club, and studied at the Woodrow Wilson School. He went on to earn an LL.B. at UVA Law School, graduating first in his class in 1963.

Kit clerked in the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, then practiced law in Washington, D.C., until he moved back to Mexico, Mo., in 1968. He practiced law there until he was elected state auditor in 1970. In 1972, Kit became the first Republican governor of Missouri in 25 years and Missouri’s youngest governor ever. He was considered a moderate, somewhat conservative on economic and national security issues. Defeated in 1976, he won election in 1980 to a second term.

Kit was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and served four full terms, once again encouraging moderation in social policies and strong, sometimes controversial, positions on national security. In 2010, he declined to run again, saying that he was “proud to have been Missouri’s youngest governor, but had no desire to be its oldest senator.” He practiced law and strategic consulting in retirement and enjoyed fishing, gardening, and “politics” in his later years.

Kit died after a short illness May 13, 2025. He is survived by his second wife, Linda; son Sam ’03; and two grandchildren. Our sympathies to the family.