Michael J. Kelly ’59

    Complications following surgery took  the life of accomplished classmate Mike  Jan. 20, 2023. 

He came to Princeton from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Majoring in the Special Program in the Humanities and graduating with honors, he served as secretary and treasurer of the class. He joined Ivy Club and as its president served on the Undergraduate Council. He also captained the 150-pound varsity crew and he received the coveted Pyne Prize. Mike continued his studies at King’s College, Cambridge, earning a doctorate in history in 1964 and meeting his wife-to-be, Narindar Uberoi. A law degree from Yale followed in 1967.

Following Yale law, Mike served as a lawyer for the building of Columbia, Md., a new concept for a suburban town. Baltimore was his next stop, accepting a professorship at the University of Maryland Law School while serving as a trustee of the city’s library, chief of the city’s Housing Authority, and chair of the city’s Ethics Board. In 1975, he became dean of the University of Maryland Law School, helping to bring it into the 21st century by diversifying its enrollment. 

Not forsaking the orange and black, he served Princeton as a graduate trustee from 1980 to 1984. In 1991, he became vice president of Georgetown University, managing the main, law, and medical campuses.

His wife having predeceased him, Mike is survived by son Sean ’92, daughter Kieran, and a brother.