Kneeland McNulty ’43

KNEELAND DIED May 4,1991, in Albuquerque, N.M., where he had lived since his retirement in 1980, at age 69.

Born in Soochow, China, where his missionary parents were stationed, Kneeland (usually nicknamed "Ding") left that country in 1939 to attend Princeton. Before he left, he witnessed the Japanese invasion. Ding majored in the Woodrow Wilson School and was a member of Cloister Inn. After graduation, he returned to the Pacific with the Army Air Corps, making bombing runs over Japan as a B29 tail gunner.

After further study at Harvard and Columbia, Ding joined the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1952, becoming curator of prints in 1964. Over the next 17 years he wrote three books and scores of pamphlets about printmakers, and became an expert on Japanese prints and a friend to artists and scholars.

"Ding brought a gentleness and humanity to the museum scene," said Philadelphia artist Sam Maitlin. "He didn't have that ego that often goes with academics and some museum people," as the appraisal of Carolyn Pitts, architectural historian with National Parks Service. "Ding McNulty contributed enormously to the life and vitality of the museum," was how Anne d'Harnoncourt, director of the museum, put it.

Kneeland is survived by his daughter, Claudia; a son, David; his companion of the last 11 years, Elizabeth Carlin; and two brothers. To all, we extend our most profound sympathy.

The Class of 1943