Lawrence Lindsley Davis ’51

Larry was born Nov. 8, 1929, in Flushing, N.Y., the son of C. Olden Davis ’15 and a descendant of Philip Lindsley 1804, acting president of Princeton from 1822 to 1823.  

Larry graduated from Deerfield in 1947. At Princeton he majored in economics; was circulation manager of The Daily Princetonian; was a member of Colonial, the Yacht Club, 150-pound crew, and Orange Key; and roomed with Dave Chang, John Mott, John Schullinger, and Perk Wilson.

After graduation, he served for three years as operations officer on a destroyer and a minesweeper. After a couple of years with Young & Rubicam, Larry graduated with distinction from Harvard Business School and went with General Foods as a product manager for nine years. Thereafter he was an entrepreneur in a number of business ventures.  

In 1954, Larry married Jeanne deSaussure Craig. When they lived in Brookville and Salt Point, he sailed his 30-foot Atlantic class sloop, Hound, on Long Island Sound, and Jeanne managed her stable of beloved horses. She died in 2002.  

In 1984 Larry developed Parkinson’s disease. He died Aug. 6, 2009, and is survived by his widow, Amy Wang, daughters Lessley Burke and Adrienne, two granddaughters and his brother John ’53.