Thomas P. Rohlen ’62

Tom died March 6, 2022, after a short illness.

He came to Princeton from New Trier High School. At Princeton he majored in history, played 150-pound football, and was a member of Cap and Gown. 

Tom served in the U.S. Foreign Service as vice consul in Kyoto, Japan, from 1962 to 1965. In 1970 he earned a Ph.D. from Penn in cultural anthropology. 

He began his academic career at UC Santa Cruz as a professor in the history/cultural anthropology department. He then spent a year at Harvard as the first holder of the Reischauer Chair. Returning to UC Santa Cruz, he wrote Japan’s High Schools, which was highly acclaimed.

Joining the faculty at Stanford University as a professor of anthropology/Japanese studies, Tom established Stanford’s first overseas campus in Kyoto. He retired in the early 1990s.

Tom and Shelagh Covington were married in 1991. Shelagh brought three daughters into Tom’s life (whom he adored along with his daughter Alison and children from his prior marriages).

In his retirement he created realistic watercolors of natural objects and tended to gardens around his home in San Francisco. 

Tom is survived by Shelagh and their children. The class offers sympathy to all.