Joseph Hull Magruder ’35

JOE WAS a delightful man and great fun to be with. Those who roomed with him—or even near him—at Kent, at Princeton and in post-graduate days in N.Y., will remember him for his brilliant inventiveness (some of which showed up clever practical jokes), for his infectious good humor and for his love of sports. At Princeton he earned his numerals in wrestling and several letters in football, but in later years his favorite sport was tennis.

Joe studied economics at Princeton and accounting at N.Y.U. At the time of Pearl Harbor he was with Sperry Gyroscope Co. Joe went to England to help form the staff of the Army's eighth Air Force. For his help in winning the air war in Europe and his subsequent planning of the shift of the eighth Air Force to the Pacific Theater, Col. Magruder won the Legion of Merit and the Croix de Guerre. While abroad he also won his wife, Marjorie E. Saunders of Denver, who was in England as a Red Cross volunteer.

After the war Joe worked in the paper products and computer services industries, retiring in 1983. Since then he had put his love of mathematics to use developing sophisticated inventory controls as a management consultant and a successful investor.

For 35 years the Magruders' home was in Fairfield, Conn., but last year they moved to Venice, Fla., and it was there that Joe died on Dec. 30 after a six-month bout with cancer. He is survived by Marjorie, their three children: Catherine Armour, Joseph Jr. '69, and Andrew; and five grandchildren. His brother, George Lloyd Magruder '38, predeceased him.