Luther M. Strayer III ’57

Lu’s life was never far from water. He began sailing at the age of 1 and could sail alone at 8. While his father was in the Pacific during World War II, he built a lightning class sailboat and sailed his two sisters around Long Island Sound, N.Y.

He began crew at Kent School and continued at Princeton. Lu was a third-generation Princetonian. He joined Colonial Club. His senior-year roommates were John McCarroll, Tony Fletcher, and Dave Williams.

After Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, he joined the Navy, becoming a ship surgeon on the aircraft carrier Essex. He practiced orthopedics on Cape Cod and in Wisconsin.

After retirement, Lu moved with his wife, Mary Ann, to Hilton Head Island, S.C., where he captained a commercial ferry. All this time he was involved in rowing, serving as team doctor and the chairman of sports medicine for rowing and founding and coaching Hilton Head Island Crew. As a volunteer, he provided medical care to indigent people in Hilton Head Island.

Lu died Dec. 27, 2018, of myelodysplastic syndrome. He is survived by daughter Ann ’82, son Luther, and four grandchildren. Mary Ann died six months after Lu. They were buried together with military honors at Beauford (S.C.) National Cemetery.