Grenville Howard Paynter ’53

Gren died Mar. 9, 1997, from a horseback-riding accident at a ranch in the Tucson area. The class has lost one of its best-known and best-liked members. An executive of Chemical Bank for 35 years, Gren was picked to open its overseas branch in 1970 in Frankfurt. After leaving Chemical in 1985, he became a respected executive at Goodrich & Sherwood, a leading NYC out-placement firm. Gren was known for his professionalism and generous service to his community, e.g., the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, the New York City School Volunteer Program, and the Nightingale-Bamford School, on whose boards he served.

Gren prepped at the Episcopal H.S. in Alexandria, Va. At Princeton he was a member of Colonial Club, he roomed with Dick Drayton, Lew Kleinhans, George Thomas, and Jerry Wilson. He graduated cum laude in history. Always a Tiger, Gren and his wife, Sally, hosted for several years Princeton's championship women's crew during the Eastern Sprints on Lake Waramaug, where they have a house.

Gren was a sophisticated businessman, knowledgeable about the big world and successful in it, yet he took the greatest pleasures in life's smallest details. He is survived by Sally, sons Bradford and Nathaniel, daughter Cameron, brother Richard '51, and mother Mary Jane, widow of Richard K. '25.

The Class of 1953