Imbrie Buffum ’35 *42

Imbrie Buffum, one of the most eminent scholars in our class, died of pneumonia July 7, 1997, in Penn Yan, N.Y., where he had lived for several years after retirement. Imbrie matriculated at Princeton from Lawrenceville when he was only 16 years old. He came from a dedicated Princeton family: his father was a professor of romance languages and a Woodrow Wilson preceptor.

Imbrie majored in modern languages, graduating with First Group honors and a Phi Beta Kappa key. He traveled abroad and studied at the Sorbonne for several years, aided by Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, and earned his doctorate at Princeton in 1942.

He was not only a brilliant student and teacher-­he was in the Navy for four years, finishing service as a lieutenant commander on a subchaser. After the war he went to Yale and became progressively an instructor, assistant professor, and associate professor of French. He published in both French and English, and had many trips to Europe. He retired from the Yale faculty in 1980.

Imbrie was a close friend of Albert Roe '36, and was godson to Albert's son David '77. Imbrie's will included bequests to both Princeton and Yale. We will remember him as an unassuming, modest, and brilliant scholar and friend.