David S. Bingham ’50

Dave died Dec. 21, 2012, in Holyoke, Mass., after a long affliction with Alzheimer’s disease.

He graduated from Westfield (N.J.) High School in 1944, and immediately enlisted in the Navy, becoming a combat air crewman. After a year at Illinois College, he transferred to Princeton, where his father was in the Class of 1913. Dave belonged to Cloister. Though he graduated with honors in economics, an elective psychology course enticed him to take a postgrad year of psychology at Rutgers, and then earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1956.

After two years at a Veterans Administration neuropsychiatric hospital in Ohio, Dave transferred to a similar hospital in Northampton, Mass., where he found both the professional and living environment he sought. He was one of the first who helped change veterans’ hospitals from “warehouses” to “more like college campuses.” He specialized in treating violent behavior and post-traumatic stress disorder in the latter decades of his career.

After retiring in 1991, Dave achieved his goal of writing a genealogical history of the Connecticut Binghams, completing its 14 volumes just before the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Our condolences go to Beverly, Dave’s wife of 60 years; his children, Geoffrey and Kimberly; and his four grandchildren.