Rockwell Townsend ’65

Raised in Connecticut, Rocky attended South Kent School. At Princeton, he ran cross country and track, joined Dial Lodge, and concentrated in politics. Through his roommate, John Logan ’66, he met his future wife, Elsa Logan. After two years of Army service, he joined the Veterans for Peace to march on the Pentagon, and took part in anti-war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In 1969, Rocky and Elsa were married in the University Chapel. 

Rocky was an independent investor. His 50th-reunion yearbook autobiography states, “I’ve made and lost lots of money in the stock market.” His independent scholarship focused on pre-dynastic Egypt; he presented seven papers about Abydos at annual meetings of  the American Research Center in Egypt. He and his young daughter, Mary Lane, reveled in creating illustrated stories starring teddy bears and chickens. One of Rocky’s diverse, intentional artworks, “365 Days in One Minute,” recorded his successful year-long training regimen to run 440 yards in one minute at Palmer Stadium in 1975.

Rocky and Elsa lived on Russian Hill in San Francisco for 45 years, taking annual cross-continental road trips, camping out under Western stars and Eastern forest canopies. It was on the first leg of last summer’s trip that this gentle, thoughtful seeker’s journey ended, near Mount Princeton in the Rockies. Rocky died June 28, 2022. The class sends condolences to Elsa, Mary Lane, and his siblings.