David Gulick Nes ’39

Dave died of cancer May 27, 2006, at his Owings Mills, Md., home.

Dave had a spectacular career as a State Department officer. But first he did graduate study at Harvard and was briefly a Baltimore Sun reporter before becoming a divisional assistant at the State Department in 1942. He enlisted in the Army, attained the rank of captain, and was awarded a Bronze Star while fighting in the Burma campaign during World War II.

Appointed a Foreign Service officer in 1946, Dave held many posts over the years that put him in the thick of the action. In Cairo in 1967 he was running the U.S. embassy at the time of the Six-Day War with Israel. He helped evacuate 500 Americans from Egypt, for which he received the Superior Honor Award from the Secretary of State upon his retirement in 1968. In the 1970s, Dave returned to Princeton as a Mideast expert and lecturer.

Both sailing and golf were very important to him. He sailed each summer from Galesville, Md., to Northeast Harbor, Maine, and played golf until his last summer.

Dave's wife, Elizabeth, died in 2004. He is survived by their five daughters and two grandsons, to all of whom we offer our sincere sympathy.