Philip F. Metcalf ’64

Phil died Nov. 21, 2019, at his home in Santa Fe, N.M.

He grew up in Auburn, N.Y., and prepared for Princeton at Northwood School, where he participated in debate and the glee club, lettered in soccer and graduated cum laude. At Princeton he majored in politics, ate at Tower Club, and participated in the Response Symposium, becoming its treasurer senior year. Phil was preceded at Princeton by his father, Frank ’33, and his brother, Peter ’59.

After a stint in financial marketing in New York City, Phil turned to his lifetime passions — landscape and garden design and photography, both of which he shared with his wife, Patricia Galagan. Phil founded Washington Water Gardens, which provided garden-design services in the D.C. area for 15 years; its clients included the Clintons.

In 2008, Phil and Pat moved to Santa Fe, where they focused on photography, and both won many awards for their work. Phil’s black-and-white photos have been shown at the San Diego and New Mexico museums of art and his and Pat’s book, Fire Ghosts, which chronicles the aftermath of a massive wildfire in the New Mexico mountains, was published shortly before his death to great critical acclaim. Reviews said the book was “haunting, otherworldly, and sublimely beautiful.”

The class extends our condolences to Pat and their family.