Robert J. Gaines ’54

Bob died Aug. 6, 2018.

He came to us from the Pingry School, where he had been active in baseball, publications, and student government. At Princeton he completed all his distribution requirements in his freshman year so as to immerse himself totally in his major, philosophy. He wrote his senior thesis on “Criticism and Valuation in Art” for which he won the Ethics Prize. A member of Roy Heath’s Advisee Project, he told Heath years later that he had chosen that topic deliberately because he knew nothing about it.

Bob was a member of Cloister Inn and was active in the Nassau Lit.

Once asked, “What on Earth can you do with philosophy?” he replied, “Anything I want.” And he did, reporting in our 50th yearbook that he had not held a job since 1967, but “supported my family with investments of one kind or another.”

His marriage was terminated in divorce. He is survived by his children, Nina, Vikki, and Bart; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.