Gaylord Wilson Gillis Jr. ’34

Gay Gillis, who was with us at college for only part of freshman year but developed into an enthusiastic classmate after 1934, died Dec. 31, 2008.

He served on the Alumni Council’s Detroit Schools Committee and later was president of the Princeton Club of Michigan.

Gay retired in 1974 from the presidency of the family wholesale textile business. He was a director of the Detroit Executive Service Corp. and of the Detroit Civic Searchlight.

After retirement Gay became “somewhat active” in volunteer work, and with his wife, the late Margaret Keena, he traveled a great deal.

In 1962 Gay and his wife built a house in Canada on the shore of Lake Huron, where they spent much of each summer with children, grandchildren, and friends.

In October 2007, Gay reported to the class on his condition through the kindness of his daughter, Sibley Classen: “In July I moved out of my house in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., and now live in a retirement community outside Baltimore. I am in close proximity to my daughter and see her and her family frequently. I am happy to be a member of the Class of ’34 in its very reduced size.”

Surviving, besides Sibley, are several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.