Harold G. Rogers ’48

“Happy Hal,” one of the best-known and most popular members of our class, died peacefully March 26, 2015, in Stamford, Conn. He was 93.

After Navy aviation wartime service in the South Pacific, Hal played varsity football and baseball at Princeton. He was recruited by the Boston Red Sox, but a shoulder injury cut short opportunities in Major League Baseball. Instead, he had a long career as an advertising executive in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

By 1962, the family had settled in Greenwich, Conn. Hal was a lifelong ardent sportsman and outdoorsman: a golfer, tennis player, hunter, and community coach of baseball and hockey. He served the Innes Arden Golf Club twice as president and for many years as a board member. In an obituary notice, the family asked that Hal be remembered for “his integrity, patriotism, eloquence, and larger-than-life personality.”

He and his wife, Lois, celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary in the fall of 2014. She survives him, as do their sons, Gary and Bruce ’82, and their families; and the three sons and families of Hal and Lois’ eldest son David ’79, who died in 2003. At Hal’s request, there was no funeral service. A memorial party was held at the Innes Arden Club to honor him and to celebrate his life.