Phillip E. Gladfelter ’55

Phil, who was born in Philadelphia June 24, 1933, grew up there and then moved across the country to spend his life in the Seattle area, died April 6, 2025.

He attended Olney High School in Philadelphia, where he participated in band, choir, and student government, At Princeton, Phil joined Campus Club and majored in classics, picking one of the more intriguing thesis topics: ancient fertility cults. He earned a “P” as varsity swimming manager and participated in IAA touch football and basketball. Phil was active in the Chapel Choir, WPRU, the Philadelphia Club as senior assistant of the board of advisers, and as a concert usher. Senior year his roommates were Carter Buller and Dave Fulmer.

After graduation, Phil did three years in the Army, then three years at Harvard Law School. He said that when he had moved to Seattle, he seemed to be the only Princeton graduate in the neighborhood; before long there were a dozen or more. Starting in the legal department of an international manufacturing company, he moved to commercial real estate, then retired in 2002. His interests over the years were camping/hiking in the Northwest, concert-going, reading, and traveling. Phil described himself as a “lifelong bachelor more by happenstance than design.”