Kenneth E. Scudder ’63

Ken died Dec. 20, 2018, of traumatic brain injury.

He graduated from Wisconsin’s Whitefish Bay High School and majored in politics at Princeton, which he credited with beginning his critical thinking. Viewing the era’s confluence of events as a “great moral crisis,” Ken joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1964’s Mississippi voter drive. He met his first wife, Patricia, and they had a son, Reed, during two years with SNCC.

Summer 1963 had been an “On the Road” trip with friends to Kerouac’s ’Frisco. When his marriage ended, Ken headed for Mendocino to live on a commune. He eventually earned a law degree, worked 26 years for the University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar, and volunteered with the San Francisco Bar’s Homeless Advocacy Project and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

Ken’s passion for peace and justice never waned. He avidly followed current events, volunteered for local campaigns, and wrote “cranky, seldom published” letters to the editor. He loved running, art, films, museums, food, and wine.

In 1984, Ken and wife Kellin visited Greece, becoming lifelong Hellenophiles. They explored it extensively on hikes and by car, and on magical adventures with classmate Peter Baiter.

He is survived by Kellin, son Reed, grandson Atticus, sister Carolyn, and ex-wife Patricia.