Hobart D. Betts III ’56 *61

Hobie died Nov. 28, 2011, at Stony Brook (N.Y.) Hospital of complications resulting from a fall. He was 78 and had lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y., since 1985.

Born in Orange, N.J., he was raised in New York City and Englewood, N.J. He came to Princeton from the Hotchkiss School, majored in architecture, and was a member and vice president of Colonial Club. He graduated magna cum laude in 1957 (a bout of TB forced him to take a year off). He received a master’s degree in architecture from Princeton in 1961.

Hobie began his career as an associate at Ulrich Franzen & Associates and opened his own firm in 1966. He won many awards, including the A.I.A. Award for Excellence in Design. He was a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, taught architectural design at Columbia and served on the advisory council of the School of Architecture at Princeton. The Betts Auditorium in Princeton’s School of Architecture is named for his father, Hobart D. Betts Jr. ’26.

Married to Glynne Robinson and subsequently divorced, Hobie is survived by his children, Elizabeth, William, and Katherine Betts ’86; his sister, Bertha Betts; and his grandchildren, Oliver and India Brown.