Laird died Aug. 14, 2021, at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver of aggressive bone cancer.

Laird graduated from Haverford Township High School near Philadelphia.

At Princeton Laird majored in English, wrote his thesis on Thornton Wilder, and roomed at 124 Little Hall with Graham Marcott, John Waterman, and Dave Bryan. He was president of AIESEC, a member of the Flying Club, and an active Dial Lodge intramural sports participant. He was a student teacher at Trenton High School.

After graduation he began teaching at Blair Academy and later moved to Stowe School in Vermont, where he served as English department chairman for years. In mid-career he shifted to a new aspiration and joined a local Vermont business as manager of a machine-company service department. He started an independent consultancy writing financial computer programs for businesses. 

Retiring early, he began remodeling homes and building new ones. He continued that work after moving to southwest Colorado near Durango and Mesa Verde National Park, where he volunteered as Democratic county precinct captain, board member of a local radio station, ski instructor, and assisting his wife, Claudia, in her national organization assisting wrongfully convicted prison inmates. He and Claudia spent two months each summer with family on Peaks Island, Maine. 

Laird is survived by Claudia, sister Joy Mills, and those of us fortunate to have known our independent and exemplary friend.

Undergraduate Class of 1967