Harold H. Saunders ’52

Hal died March 6, 2016.

A Philadelphian, Hal came to Princeton from Germantown Academy. He majored in English and American civilization, joined Campus Club, and played soccer. He chaired the Near East studies department’s advisory council from 1982 to 2007, was alumni trustee of the University from 1996 to 2000, and served as class president from 2002 to 2007. He earned a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale in 1956.

After Air Force duty, Hal joined the National Security Council staff in 1961, focusing on the Middle East. Joining the State Department in 1974, he was deputy assistant secretary, director of intelligence and research, and assistant secretary for the Near East and South Asia. He flew on the Kissinger shuttles after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and was a principal drafter of the Camp David accords and the Egyptian-Israeli peace during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

After leaving government in 1981, he worked with the Kettering Foundation developing the Sustained Dialogue methodology, a nonofficial process for transforming conflictual relationships, which Princeton students adapted for campus use. In 2002, Hal incorporated the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. He published four books on the peace process and Sustained Dialogue.

Hal’s wife, Barbara, died in 1973. They had two children, Catherine and Mark. In 1990, Hal and Carol married. They had five grandchildren.