Richard Edwards ’39

Richard died March 25, 2016, at the age of 99. He was a descendent of Princeton’s third president, Jonathan Edwards. To us, he was our “Pony” for our Latin translations and our distinguished professor of East Asian art.

With the exception of service as an ambulance driver and stretcher-bearer with the American Field Service during World War II in North Africa, Burma, and China, Pony’s entire life was spent in academia. He received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He learned Chinese at Yale, where he met his wife, Vee Ling. He taught at Brandeis, Washington University, and for 26 years at the University of Michigan. He taught many of us at a memorable alumni college event in June 1978. His books include studies of the paintings of Shen Chou, Tao Chi, Wen Chen-Ming, and his last book, written when he was 94, was titled The Heart of Ma Yuan.

Fullbright scholarships brought Pony and Vee to China, Taiwan, and Japan. Their last stay took them throughout China, where they got to see the landscapes that inspired the paintings he knew so well, “the originals of the originals.”

Writing in our 25th reunion book, Pony shared, “The modern world calls us to learn about the cultures of other peoples. Thus, despite what academic life implies, I feel that I am much ‘in the world.’ In a word, I have no complaints.”