Henry Clay Frick II ’42

Clay died Feb. 9, 2007, at home in Alpine, N.J. He was the sole grandson of Henry Clay Frick, the Pittsburgh industrialist, financier, art collector, and founder of the Frick Collection in New York.

Clay prepared at St. Paul’s School. At Princeton he majored in biology and was a member of Cottage Club. After graduation from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1944, he served as an Army captain in post-World War II Germany. He later served as a volunteer field surgeon in Vietnam.

Clay rose to professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University. He was an oncologist at the former Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

As trustee and president of the Frick Collection, he oversaw the acquisition of many important works of art and the merger between the Frick Collection and the Frick Art Reference Library.

Clay was a naturalist fascinated by wildlife (he once kept a live black snake in his desk at St. Paul’s). He was a trustee of prominent wildlife conservation and research institutions including the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History.

He is survived by his wife, Emily duPont Frick, four children, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. The class extends its condolences to them.