Robert Burrows ’35

Bob died on Apr. 8, 1999, in Phoenix, Ariz. He prepared at the Hun School. At Princeton he majored in political science and was a member of the varsity fencing team, Theatre Intime, Boxing Club, and Dial Lodge. He then earned a law degree at Harvard.

Bob practiced law in NYC and worked during the early 1940s expediting war materials for the Treasury Dept. The following five years were spent (in his own words) "roaming from Mexico to Patagonia," missing only Paraguay. Marriage to Helene Sommermeyer in 1950 ended this nomadic life. They settled in Eau Clair, Wisc., where Bob served for two years as Latin American manager for Natl. Presto Industries, bought a Northern Valley Pepsi Cola Bottling franchise (which he ran as chairman and president for 24 years), and spent seven years as board chairman of Burrows Broadcasting.

In 1985 he and Helene retired to Paradise Valley, Ariz. Bob became a director of the Bank of Paradise Valley and of the local Arthritis Foundation. Helene died in 1989, and they left no descendants. Of all the other things "I have had, though," Bob once wrote, "my most treasured is my Princeton education. It helped me in trying times," and (to paraphrase Woodrow Wilson), "is what fits us for service to all-family, community, state and country."

The Class of 1935