David J. Delgado ’62

David died Nov. 1, 2002.

He came to Princeton from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, N.Y., entering with the Class of 1961. David took a year off in 1960 to study in Paris and graduated with our class. He majored in history, specializing in the Middle Ages. David joined Court Club but moved to the Woodrow Wilson Society.

After Princeton he spent two years at the University of Wisconsin studying medieval history. “Running out of money rather than running out of thesis information,” he took a job as an archivist for the state. He compiled the Guide to Wisconsin Archives and married, joking that even an archivist could afford to buy a house in the ’70s. He returned to study geology, earning a master’s degree and working toward a Ph.D. in carbonate sedimentology.

After briefly teaching geology and oceanography at Northern Illinois University, he joined Phillips Petroleum in 1980. David’s family lived in Colorado and Houston while he traveled to the Yukon and elsewhere. Ironically, he had moved from the Southwest to New York City as a youth.  

David sang in church choirs and participated in Democratic Party causes.

David’s marriage ended in divorce. The class offers its condolences to his daughters, Jessica and Catherine.