Henry Estile Yerkes III ’48

Harry Yerkes died peacefully at home May 15, 2010. He was 83.

A graduate of St. Benedict’s School in Newark, N.J., Harry served from 1944 to 1946 as a counterintelligence Japanese-language interpreter. At Princeton he majored in politics, played squash, performed with Theatre Intime, and was voted “Funniest Man in the Class.” The president of Quadrangle Club and a member of the Tiger editorial board, he graduated magna cum laude.

Harry’s business career, first with Marsh & McLennan and then with his own firm, H.E. Yerkes & Associates, was in insurance brokerage. He specialized in ocean marine insurance and reinsurance.

Harry played tennis and golf and sang with the Blue Hill Troupe. A reporter once asked how he had achieved such prowess in squash; his reply was, quite simply, “being the last man to hit the ball back.”

Harry is survived by his widow, Nancy; daughters Elizabeth ’85 and Nathalie; and Harry IV. His son Nicholas predeceased him.