Ralph John Reiman ’35

Ralph died May 24, 2002, four days before his 89th birthday.

A graduate of Nichols School in Buffalo, he majored in economics and was a member of Tower Club at Princeton. He graduated from Harvard Law in 1939 and spent 1942-46 as an Army intelligence officer, stationed in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

His last posting proved providential for Ralph. In Philadelphia he said, "I just took root." He did industrial-relations work for several companies in the area and in 1957 joined Johnson Matthey, a British-owned platinum fabricator, with offices in Malvern, Pa. It was a match that lasted 21 years. Ralph started as head of industrial relations but by 1965 had become corporate secretary. He also handled public relations and wrote prize-winning editorials for the company's newsletter.

Retirement in 1978 gave Ralph more time for traveling with his wife, the former Mary Ellen Reeder. In the first 40 years of their marriage, he calculated, they visited 24 countries. But Princeton, its Alumni Council Colleges, and '35 class gatherings were always musts on his yearly calendar as was volunteer work (for 13 years) at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pa. Mary Ellen survived Ralph as did their son, Ralph J. Jr., daughters Joanne and Barbara, and seven grandchildren.

The Class of 1935