Michelle E. Cormier ’98

Michelle died unexpectedly Dec. 20, 2015, at her home in Denver.

She was born in Houston, Texas, and attended St. John’s School there. At Princeton, Michelle graduated with honors with a degree in comparative literature and a certificate in German. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Terrace, an officer of Princeton PanHellenic, and a senior board member and disc jockey at WPRB.

After Princeton, Michelle attended Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Review. She began her law career as a corporate transactional attorney in San Francisco, followed by federal clerkships in Denver. Most recently, she practiced law at Lathrop & Gage as a litigator. She devoted countless pro bono hours to representing the interests of disadvantaged children and reading to the blind.

A natural leader with an encyclopedic knowledge of, well, everything, Michelle had exceptional intelligence, quick wit, and a fierce loyalty to her friends. There was no skill she could not master, whether it was planning a dinner party, serving as a lifeline on a friend’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire bid, or competing in trivia-night contests. To Michelle’s husband, Dugan Bliss, and her countless friends at Princeton and beyond, the class sends its deepest condolences.