Thomas Buchan Hartmann ’45

On Nov. 7, 2007, the class lost one of its stalwarts with the death of Tom Hartmann.

Tom entered Princeton from Andover, played freshman and varsity football, and joined Cottage Club. His Princeton studies were interrupted by service as a dive-bomber pilot in the Pacific, flying more than 89 combat missions, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster and an Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

Tom returned to Princeton and graduated cum laude in 1948. However, the first thing he did on his return to Princeton was to marry Martha Bothfeld. Tom started his academic career at the Hun School in Princeton, became headmaster of St. Mark’s School in Dallas, Texas, and returned to New Jersey to join the faculty of Rutgers University, where he helped found Livingston College.

Tom received Rutgers’ Presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service. When he retired from Rutgers, a citation issued in his honor by the governor noted that Tom had “gone to school with, taught, or worked with every person on the planet.”

Although Tom refused modestly to become a class officer, he and Martha became trusted and indispensable advisers to every class officer for decades until Tom’s death.

In addition to Martha, Tom is survived by their daughters, Darcy, Betsy, and Anna, and five grandchildren. The class extends sympathy to the family on the loss of this outstanding classmate.