David Crockett Reydel Sr. ’59

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“Fundador” of the resurrected but short-lived Tuesday Night Euripides Club, quiet and droll, born in New York City and raised in Forest Hills, Queens, Dave prepped at Choate, where he played football and lacrosse, wrestled, and managed advertising for the yearbook. Majoring in the Special Program in American Civilization (English) at Princeton, he held forth at Colonial Club while rooming in a Tiger Inn den with Fisher, Schuyler, Tonetti, Woolverton, and Zweiback.

Graduation saw Dave fulfilling his military obligation with the Army, then signing on with Doubleday in Swarthmore, Pa., as promotion manager to schools and libraries. While there he got married in 1961, and by our 10th reunion had two children, David Jr. and Ann, and earned a master’s degree in education from New York University.

Doubleday moved him back to Long Island for 10 years. Then followed two years with Random House and a turn at selling real estate.

With a third advanced degree (master’s degree in counseling in 1980 from Long Island University) and a divorce, Dave headed west to California, worked briefly for the Orange County Register, then started Odyssey Booksellers in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Dave died June 30, 2023. He is survived by his son, David Jr. and his domestic partner of many years, Marianna Hof. His daughter, Ann, predeceased him in 2003.

Paw in print

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The cover of PAW’s November 2024 issue, featuring an illustration of a military tank that's made out of a pink brain, and the headline "Armed With Ideas: Princetonians lead think tanks through troubled political times."
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November 2024

Princetonians lead think tanks; the perfect football season of 1964; Nobel in physics.