Richard Kolbe *62

Dick died Dec. 1, 2020. He was born June 17, 1932, in Adamsdale, Pa.

In 1954 Dick graduated from Dartmouth with a major in public administration. After Dartmouth he commenced his four-year service with the Navy, serving as a navigator on USS Plymouth Rock during the Cold War. On leaving the Navy he joined American Casualties Insurance as an adviser, but his passion for learning returned and he attended Princeton University, earning a Ph.D. in politics in 1962.

Dick was a visiting professor at Princeton, Temple University, Lafayette, Dartmouth, and the University of Delhi in India, before receiving tenure at Cedar Crest College. He also traveled to various universities in Europe for the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges, seeking positions for American professors. He published many texts used for teaching that are still considered respected reference books today, including the textbook American Political Parties.

Dick was an unassuming, intellectual, emotionally intelligent, kind man.

Preceded in death by his first wife, Joanne, and stepson Tadgh, Dick is survived by his wife, Yvonne; daughters Patti and Lynn; stepchildren Kerry, Declan, and Aidan; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA