Robert R. Porter ’45
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Bob Porter, known as Roget, was a classical scholar and a collector of early opera and jazz records, Persian rugs, pre-Revolutionary silver, and books. He was a fabulous cook. Since 1984 he lived in Tucson, and for his final decade, shared an apartment with his late sister Annetta’s adopted daughter, Christina. He died May 4, 2011.
Roget, a graduate of Cate School in Santa Barbara, followed his father, Willard 1903, to Princeton, where his years were interrupted by Army service with the 7th Division as a field artillery officer. He saw combat in Okinawa and the Philippines. On his return to Princeton he joined Cloister Inn and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in classics.
He spent three years at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and then returned to teach classics at Princeton for seven years. He was very active in 1945 class enterprises and an ardent supporter of Tiger football. Not having found the time to complete his Ph.D. thesis, he moved on to Yale for another seven years teaching classics, but still no thesis. Yale made him dean of Davenport College, where he thrived until Yale went coed. Roget determined that deans should be much younger than he.
Roget lived in Princeton for some years before moving to Tucson. He is survived by Christina, many relatives, and a host of devoted friends.
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