Robert D. Drennan ’69

Dick, anthropologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences, died April 18, 2025, in Olympia, Wash., where he and his wife, Jeanne, had a second home.

Dick went to high school in Louisville, Ky., and was president of the National Honor Society and an active thespian. His extracurricular time at Princeton was focused on Triangle, where he was technical director and vice president. Triangle classmates recall traveling with Dick on the annual holiday tour, tearing down the set after each show, heading out to a late-night deb party, then getting up early the next morning to start over. Dedicated to Triangle, Dick spent much of his time at McCarter, where he first met Jeanne, who was working in the box office.

An art and archaeology major, Dick later got his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. He joined the University of Pittsburgh’s anthropology department in 1977 and worked there for the rest of his career, becoming Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and founding director of the Center for Comparative Archaeology.

Dick was proud of the more than 50 doctoral candidates he mentored who are now teaching others and pursuing research, both here and abroad. His final book, co-authored with two former graduate students, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2026.

Dick is survived by his wife of 50 years, Jeanne; his daughter, Margaret Drennan; his son-in-law, Krishna Chowdary; and his granddaughter Mina. The class joins them in mourning Dick’s passing.