MacDonald Halsey ’40

Mac’s daughter, Comfort Cope, helpfully provided details of his life and told us that a brief illness led to his death March 23, 2010, in Bedford, Mass.

Mac prepared at Pingry School and followed his father, Woodruff Halsey 1910, great-uncle A.W. Halsey 1879, and uncle Frank D. Halsey 1912 to Princeton. Mac majored in modern languages, was a member of the track team, Orange Key, and the board of the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, and served as secretary of the Managers’ Club and vice president of Cloister.

He served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II and earned a master’s degree from Columbia in 1945.

Most of his career was spent as headmaster of Kent Place School. His high standards led to the presidency of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools, among other memberships and honors.

Mac was regional vice president of Princeton’s Alumni Association and was a member of the Schools and Scholarship Committees in Washington, D.C., and Southern California. He spent his retirement in Point Pleasant, N.J., and Peaks Island, Maine, close to the sea and the sailboats he loved.

Mac was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Anne (Ingram), and son Brooke ’66. To his survivors, son Woodruff ’69, daughter Comfort, five granddaughters, one grandson, and three great-grandchildren, his classmates offer sincere condolences.