At Princeton, he majored in English, joined Cottage Club, played in the marching band, and was in Triangle shows in his junior and senior years. Selected as a Rhodes scholar, Ned earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English literature at Oxford. He served in the Army as an artillery lieutenant with the Second Armored Division in Germany.
Returning to the United States, Ned went to Harvard Law School, where he was president of Lincoln’s Inn in his senior year. However, three years of legal work gave him “neither satisfaction nor enjoyment,” so he returned to Princeton to earn a Ph.D. and move on to a career teaching Victorian English literature at Georgetown University before retiring in 1974 to write stories, poems, and plays.
Ned traveled widely in his early post-graduation years and especially treasured the memory of 16 days spent in Lambarene, Gabon, West Africa, at Albert Schweitzer’s hospital. He was a member of many organizations, including the Metropolitan Club, the Cosmos Club, and the Bohemian Club.
Ned died May 28, 2019, in Richmond, Va. He is survived by an older brother, Dr. Henry Fairfax Conquest ’50.