Robert P. Thompson ’42

The class lost a devoted member when Bob, a lumber-company executive, died Sept. 24, 2014, of heart failure in Abington, Pa.

Bob prepared for Princeton at the William Penn Charter School. He majored in history and belonged to Cannon Club.

He served as a paratrooper in Europe during World War II. Bob was married to Mary Louise Rehmann for more than 60 years before her death in 2013.

He spent his entire career as president of the Thompson Mahogany Co., a Philadelphia firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1843. Bob traveled the world in search of mahogany, which he identified and arranged to have transported back to Philadelphia for use in Steinway pianos, Smith and Wesson gunstocks, and exotic art, among other things.

Bob regularly returned to Princeton for Reunions, including his 70th, where he walked with the Old Guard. He was an enthusiastic outdoorsman who enjoyed fly-fishing and hunting.

His sons, Scott, Peter ’79, and Christopher ’80, and six grandchildren survived him. We offer them our sincere sympathy.