Gardner Fordyce Gillespie Jr. ’39

"Spider" died Mar. 25, 2001, of post-polio syndrome at a hospital near his assisted living home in Chester, Conn. He had been having trouble walking in recent years, highly unfair as he had polio at the age of eight. He and Eliza, his wife of 59 years, lived in Rye, N.Y., until he retired in 1983. A longtime insurance executive in NYC, he later served as president of Frank B. Hall, Westchester.

He helped organize the United Fund in Rye, served on the zoning board, on the board of Westchester Council of the Arts, and was a vestryman of Christ Church. During WWII he served in the Army's cyclone division in the Philippines. A devoted fly fisherman, he was a member of the Angler's Club of New York and served as president of the Hammonasset Fishing Club in North Madison, Conn. Also a photographer, he collaborated with Eliza, a portrait and landscape painter, on mixed-media projects.

He is survived by Eliza and their four children, daughters Susan and Nancy and sons Gardner III and Douglas, as well as nine grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. We join them in affectionate farewell to our friend.

The Class of 1939