Ralph W. Van Demark ’51

Ralph was born Nov. 16, 1929, in White Plains, N.Y., to Ralph E. and Amy Curtis Van Demark.

A graduate of Port Chester (N.Y.) High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Princeton. He belonged to Tiger Inn, played varsity basketball, and was known to his friends as Spook.

Ralph married Marguerite Trumpohn June 24, 1951. He then went to the Chrysler Corp. Institute of Automotive Engineering and completed a two-year course ending with a master’s degree in automotive engineering. For 13 years he was with Chrysler’s Dodge Truck Division, and left in 1963 to work for Mack Truck, after which the family went to live in Mahwah, N.J. He moved on to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and then to Wilding Communications before settling down with the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers’ Association, a trade group, as its director of engineering and technology. He was with MEMA for 29 years.

Ralph died April 26, 2013, in Mahwah, N.J. He is survived by his wife, Maggie; their children, Andrew, Scot, Aimee Cook, and Jeffrey; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His brother, Harold, predeceased him. A funeral mass was held at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, N.J., where Ralph had been a lector for many years.