David Crockett Gordon ’47

OUR CLASSMATE David Gordon died of cancer at his home in Princeton Apr. 23, 1993.

David was born in Istanbul and raised in Greece. He left the Mediterranean with his mother and brother on the last ship out in 1939. After graduating from Princeton, he returned to the Near East to teach history at the American Univ. in Beirut. He received his M.A. there in 1952, He continued to teach at the American Univ. until 1975, with time out to earn a Ph.D. in history at Princeton in 1957. After coming back to the U.S. with his family in 1975 and teaching parttime for a year at Princeton, he was unable to return to Beirut because of the upheaval there. He then accepted a position at Wright State Univ. in Dayton, Ohio. He made his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and wrote of the town in our 40th yearbook that he found it safer than Beirut, but less stimulating. After retiring from Wright State in 1988, he moved with his family to a university town considerably more stimulating than mostPrinceton.

As a historian, David's primary interest was French colonialism and postcolonialism. He wrote six books on that subject, one of which, SELFDETERMINIS M AND HISTORY IN THE THIRD WORLD, was published by the Princeton Univ. Press.

David is survived by his wife of 39 years, Ann Hutchinson; his son, Matthew; and his daughter, Susan. To them the class extends its profound sympathy.

The Class of 1947