Robert Whitsett Van De Velde ’33 *54

Bob van de Velde died Sept. 17,1996 in Cornwall, Vt. He was 84.

Bob was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and grew up in Madison, N.J. He came to Princeton from Madison H.S.

In 1935 he went on active duty with the Army and was assigned to the Civilian Conservation Corps. He received a regular army commission in 1936 and remained in the Army for 20 years.

He was an aide de camp to the commander of the 25th Division at the time the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He served in the Mediterranean theater and participated in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.

After serving as military attache in Athens and in Israel he returned to Princeton and entered the Woodrow Wilson School, earning a PhD in politics. He then served in the Office of the Chief of Special Warfare and as the head of the PSYWAR section of the European Command. He returned to the Woodrow Wilson School as a lecturer in public and international affairs. He retired in 1978 with the rank of professor. On retirement he and his wife, the late Barbara Gray, moved to Middlebury, Vt. There for years, he wrote columns for the Village Voice, a local newspaper

He is survived by his second wife, Deanne Wolff van de Velde, sons Christopher and Murray, and two granddaughters.

The Class of 1933