Kenneth Harold Felch ’51

Ken was born April 4, 1929, in Rochester, N.Y., to Harold and Bertha Jackson Felch. He grew up in Rochester and graduated from West High School.

At Princeton he majored in biology, belonged to Prospect Club, ran the refreshment agency for three years, and was Commons senior manager. Ken roomed with Marty Agnew, Larry Becker, Chalmers Hamill, Hugh Paladino, and Ed Spencer. He served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955, during which time he and Lorraine Putzig were married. 

In 1957 he earned a master’s degree in physiology and pharmacology from Michigan and in 1961 a medical degree from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine. He was a family practitioner for 35 years in Ithaca, N.Y., retiring in 1996. 

Ken died July 23, 2017, in Ithaca after a 20-year battle with cancer. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife, Lorraine; their daughters, Stephanie, Kimberly, and Cynthia Hopwood; their son, Matthew; and five grandchildren. His brothers Bernard and Quentin predeceased him. Donations in Ken’s memory to either the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 or to the Lansing Community Library Center, 27 Auburn Road, Lansing, NY 14882 would be most appreciated.