Robert Kettering Williams ’40

Bob died Oct. 22, 2006, in Naples, Fla.

He prepared for Princeton at Highland Park High School in Detroit. At Princeton, he majored in chemical engineering, graduating with high honors and election to Phi Beta Kappa.

“R.K.,” as many of us knew him, was in the Glee Club, the Princeton Engineering Society, the student chapter of the American Society of Chemical Engineers, and Campus Club.

His business career began in 1940 as a research engineer at General Motors, where he worked on synthetic rubber development during World War II. Thereafter, he joined Lubrizol Co. in Cleveland, Ohio, where he became an officer and member of the board of directors before his retirement in 1981.

He was active in the American Heart Association, was a trustee of Hillcrest and Booth hospitals in Cleveland, and was a member of the mayor’s task force in Cleveland.

Bob married Jeanne Roche in 1941. Upon retirement, they moved to Pinehurst, N.C., “to improve our opportunities for golf and horseback riding.” After 1989, they also lived in Harbor Springs and Palm Beach, Fla.

To Jeanne; their daughter, Nancy Culver Williams; and Bob’s sister, Jane Williams Walker, we wish to extend our sincere condolences.