James Van Deusen Eppes Jr. ’55

Jim, perhaps the most linguistically adept and academically well-traveled member of the Class of 1955 — but not a graduate — died Oct. 30, 2023, in Winchester, Va. He had an amazing ability to master four or five languages; had such a strong, deep voice that he became a lifelong member of the Yale Russian chorus; attended Princeton, Yale, and Stanford; and earned a B.A. at Middlebury College. But his Princeton thesis threw him for a loop, and he left campus in the middle of his senior year.

Jim was born Dec. 1, 1933, in Port Arthur, Texas. He attended St. Paul’s School, where he was a member of the Concordian literary society, vice president of the library association, and yearbook editor.

At Princeton, he majored in history and joined Dial Lodge, the Foreign Students Service, the Canterbury Fellowship, Whig-Clio, the Student Stationery Agency, the Outing Club, and the Choir. He won numerals in 150-pound football freshman year and played IAA football, squash, hockey, and tennis. Senior year he roomed with John Sorenson.

After leaving Princeton, Jim studied French and Spanish for his degree at Middlebury in 1958, Chinese at Yale graduate school, and economics and German at Stanford graduate school. He worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce for six years, taught at high schools in California and Virginia, and was a nursing assistant in Boulder, Colo., and Winchester, Va. In Winchester he sang bass in the Arts Chorale and the choir of Christ Church. His brother Bennett said Jim “loved people; he loved to laugh.”

Jim was predeceased by his partner, Mary Cunningham.