Duane Edward Wilder ’51

Duane was born Feb. 5, 1929, in Warren, Pa., to Clinton E. and Fannie Kornreich Wilder. By the time he was 11 both parents had died and he and his two elder brothers were orphans.

He came to us from the Lawrenceville School. At Princeton he majored in history and was a member of the Liberal Union. He earned an MBA from New York University in 1953 and served in the Army Ordnance Corps for two years.

Over the years Duane lived in New York, Paris, and Fort Lauderdale. In the 1960s he was treasurer of the National Forge Co., of which his father had been a founder in 1915. Duane was long active in liberal politics and a major supporter of the ACLU, and he had a special passion for art and spent 40 years collecting great works. He and his brother Clinton were producers on Broadway.

Duane died Aug. 26, 2017, in New York. He is survived by his brother Robert’s children, Rachel, Clinton, and Robert. His brothers Clinton ’43 and Robert and his life partner Robert Endo predeceased him. Duane bequeathed his entire art collection to the Princeton University Art Museum, where he had been a member and former chair of the advisory council.