Eugene Franklin Oconnor III ’37

Gene died Feb. 10, 2002, in Charlottesville, Va. He prepared at Choate and at Princeton majored in English.

Gene wrote in our 50th-reunion book, "Less than a month after senior year, with an assist from Whitney Darrow '32, formerly of Princeton Press and then the vice president of publishers, Charles Scribner Sons, I went to work on the famous fifth floor headed by the all-time great editor Max Perkins. I met Hemingway, just back from the war in Spain, and Fitzgerald '17, the first man I ever saw wear dark glasses indoors, for five impecunious but memorable years."

During WWII he was both war correspondent and director of public information for the Red Cross and wrote a newspaper and guidebook to India for servicemen. In 1949, Gene was assigned to the American Embassy in Bangkok for six years, returning to DC as Information Agency chief of Far Eastern policy. During the Cold War, he served in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Munich, Germany.

Gene was an avid golfer at Royal Bangkok Sports Club, KYC Yacht Club of Blue Hill, Maine, and the Rio Mar and Vero Beach golf clubs. His survivors include his wife of 64 years, Nancy, daughter Ann McCarty, sons Harrison and Owen, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. We offer our sympathy for the loss of this most interesting man.

The Class of 1937