John Burr De Graw ’32

JOHN DE GRAW, a longtime newspaper editor and publisher, died at the Forestview Nursing Home in Wareham, Mass., on Aug. 18,1991. Ill health had required his move there earlier in the year from his home in Fairhaven, Mass.

A quiet but respected member of our Class, John came to Princeton from Newark Academy. After graduation he worked for newspapers in Nutley and Belleville N.J., later as an assay chemist for Baker & Co. in Newark. But newspapering was in his blood, and in 1938 he purchased two weekly papers in Fairhaven, Mass. That same year he married the former Frances E. Stahl, of Breman, Me., who worked alongside her husband as an editor of the Fairhaven STAR for more than 35 years. All together they lived in Fairhaven for 52 years. During that time John was involved in a bewildering number of pro bono activities in Fairhaven and New Bedford, but his chief love was firefighting. He became a call member of the Fairhaven Fire Dept., serving variously as ladderman, hose man, and departmental clerk. He long ago lost track of the number of fires he was called out for.

John is survived by his wife, Frances, by a daughter, Betty Thurston, by three ganddaughters, and by a greatgrandson. Always cherishing a love for Princeton, John had looked forward to his 60th reunion. We shall miss his presence there, and send our condolences to survivors.

The Class of 1932