Fielding E. Lamason ’50

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Born in Beaumont, Texas, Tex grew up in Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey as his father sought work. After graduating from Pingry, he was a sergeant in the Army Air Force from 1944-46. At Princeton, he majored in history and joined Cottage Club. After graduation, he entered the training program of Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, where he enjoyed several months of bachelorhood before being recalled into the Army early in 1951.

Tex returned to the U.S. in early 1953, was released from active duty as a first lieutenant, married Mary Frances Longley (MF), joined the investment banking firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co., and settled down in the Philadelphia area to pursue a career and raise a family near Villanova, in an old-frame house with enough rooms to move about in and raise two boys and two girls. He beagled with the Treweryn Beagles and then the Ardrossan pack, played tennis and squash, taught Sunday school, and regularly exercised his privilege to vote. He came ’round to the Democrats as his father said he would, and to Princeton’s co-ed path. He later campaigned against gun violence and for regulation with CeasefirePA. He followed Princeton athletics assiduously — thrilled with and for any teams’ successes, commiserating quietly over their losses. He loved history, especially the stories from and analysis of World War II, and traveled around the battlefields and castles of France with MF and anywhere else with his second wife Nancy.

Tex died Dec. 10, 2023. He was predeceased by his first wife, MF, and his son Chip ’76. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; three children; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. 

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