H. Drew Bitler ’59

Drew died July 17, 2019, of Alzheimer’s disease.

Born in Meadville, Pa., and raised on Philadelphia’s Main Line, Drew came to us from the Lawrenceville School, where he played varsity soccer. At Princeton Drew majored in chemistry, joined Court Club, and spent his spare time on billiards and bridge while at school, and automobiles and hunting when away. He roomed with Dodge Johnson senior year. Drew married Ann Collins in 1959; they had two sons, David and Jeffrey.

Drew worked in the chemical industry for 12 years, and ran a plastic-bottle manufacturing plant in Decatur, Ill. In the late ’70s Drew moved to Marietta, Ga., and started Bitler Construction Co., a home-remodeling construction business that he ran for the next 35 years.

Drew’s love of hunting took him every year to South Dakota in search of pheasants. It also led his son David to winning the World Skeet Shooting Championship. Drew and Ann traveled the world, becoming, among other things, the most-traveled couple on Holland America Line. They missed not a single Class of 1959 trip in 15 years.

Drew was predeceased by his son Jeffrey in 2017, and his wife, Ann, in 2018. He is survived by son David and grandchildren Brent and David Bitler, and Sarah Bitler Miller. To them the class extends its deepest sympathy.