David Muir Tappen ’46

Dave Tappen died Aug. 30, 1997, at his home in Little Compton, R.I. He was 71.

A Pomfret School grad, Dave entered Princeton in July 1942. He joined the Navy a year later and served in the V-12 program, was commissioned an ensign, and went to various U.S. and Hawaii bases as a communications officer. He returned to campus in 1946, joined Cottage Club, and graduated as a history major in 1947. At Princeton, he followed his father, Clarence M. Tappen '16 and uncle Irwin L. Tappen '21.

With a 1950 Columbia Law School degree, Dave joined the New York firm of Satterlee, Stephens, and Burke, becoming a partner in 1961, the year he married Sarah "Sally" Caffrey. He retired in 1987 after 37 years as a practicing attorney, and moved to Little Compton with Sally and their only child, Sarah L. Tappen, born in 1962.

Sally and Dave traveled widely, and he enjoyed golf, tennis, and skiing before strokes limited retirement activities to gardening and reading.

To his wife and daughter, and his sister Katherine Guthron, who survive him, the class extends its deep sympathy on the loss of our loyal classmate.

The Class of 1946