Irving Flint Foote ’52

Bud died of complications from a stroke March 12, 2005, at home in Atlanta, Ga.

Born in Laconia, N.H., he entered Princeton from Goffstown High School. At Princeton, Bud excelled as an English major, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He spent his junior year at the Sorbonne, and later earned a master's in English from the University of Connecticut.

In 1957 Bud began a 40-year career at Georgia Tech, during which he achieved legendary status as a brilliant teacher, advocate for the dispossessed, songwriter, author, and poet. As educator, he loved teaching English to technically inclined students; he developed courses in speed reading and African-American literature; and he elevated science fiction to an important academic discipline, donating his collection of 8,000 volumes to the Georgia Tech library. As activist he composed and, on guitar and banjo, played topical songs in support of peace, civil rights, and women's rights. He also wrote for an alternative newspaper.

Bud loved Princeton, his friends and, above all, his close-knit family. Surviving him are his beloved wife, Ruth Anne, five sons, a daughter, four grandchildren, his mother, and a brother. To them all, the class extends its deepest condolences.

The Class of 1952