Thomas J. King Jr. ’46

DR. THOMAS J. KING, known as "Mumbo" to his close friends, died at his home in New City, N.Y., May 20, 1994, after a long, debilitating illness. Tom was born in Philadelphia and prepared at Roosevelt H.S. in Yonkers before entering Princeton. Tom served as a navigator with the army air corps in the Pacific, where he was awarded the Air Medal for 20 combat missions.

Returning to Princeton in 1946, Tom made a name for himself in dramatic circles, becoming president of the Triangle Club, joining Tiger Inn, and graduating cum laude in psychology in 1948. Tom's dramatic proclivities led him to a brief career on Broadway as stage manager and director, after which he turned to academia, earning an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia in English. After teaching at both Columbia and Dartmouth, Tom moved to C.C.N.Y., where he was for 24 years the leading Shakespearean guru. He helped reconstruct the Globe Theater in London and wrote two books on the staging of Shakespearean plays.

Most of Tom's later years were spent in his home, in New City, where he was a pillar of the Rockland Country Day School, which his children attended. To his widow, Joan; his sons Charles and Rufus: his daughters Hilary, Emily, and Mary; and to his nine grandchildren, the class sends its deepest sympathy. We will long remember Mumbo as a close friend and loyal classmate.