Kennedy Stevenson ’47

Ken's bittersweet struggle with life ended Sept. 1, 2004.

After Army service in Europe, Ken returned to Princeton and roomed and bonded in a wonderful friendship with Arnie Fraiman. Graduating in 1949, Ken began a promising Wall Street career in a small brokerage firm co-founded by his dad, Stuart '18.

After his firm was taken over by a larger one, he retired in 1991. In unaccustomed leisure, Ken spent his mornings on a Central Park bench with newfound friends, laboring over the New York Times crossword puzzle. In the evenings he visited the bar at his beloved Knickerbocker Club. Several years before his death, an operation on his cancer-stricken throat left him virtually voiceless.

Princeton was always an object of deep affection, a basic source of identity. From undergraduate days till near the end, he never missed a reunion or the Yale game.

A moving memorial celebration in the Knickerbocker library — attended by a host of old friends from Ardsley-on-Hudson, where he grew up, his brother Langdon '57, his many nieces, nephews, godchildren, and a large contingent of '47 friends — revealed Ken's constant kindnesses to others and their special affection for him. He was a good and gentle friend.

Ken never married, but was the proud godfather of six children.With these fond remembrances, we extend our warm sympathy to his family.

The Class of 1947