Preston B. Kavanagh Jr. ’54

Pres died June 23, 2023.

He prepared at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., and was active in student government.

Pres majored in the Woodrow Wilson School, joined Quadrangle Club, and served on the Chapel Study Committee and the Undergraduate Council, winning its 1953 award as “the junior who has done most for undergraduate life.”

Commissioned in the Navy, he married Lois Lapham in 1956 during his three years of service. He then attended Princeton Theological Seminary before earning a B.D. in 1960 at Harvard Divinity School. Committed to civil rights and social justice, he entered the urban missionary movement in Cleveland and Chicago’s inner city and was jailed alongside early civil-rights leaders. In 1963, he joined Commonwealth Edison, retiring in 1985. He was an active and inspired board member of the United Way, Chicago’s Community Renewal Society, and several community organizations. 

Pres enjoyed summering on Martha’s Vineyard, where in his retirement he undertook independent biblical studies and engaged in community service, driving Edgartown’s recovery of its water utility and saving residents from one of Massachusetts’s worst and highest cost utility services. 

In his 80s he and Lois moved to the Tampa area, where his final years were spent coping with the steady degradation of Parkinson’s disease. 

Pres is survived by Lois; children Katharine, Preston III ’81, and Evan; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.