Uldis Kordons ’63

Odie died Jan. 22, 2025, in an assisted-living home near Cincinnati. Ginny, his wife of 58 years, said he had suffered for three years with heart and intestinal issues — a hard ending to an exceptional journey.

Odie, a native of Riga, Latvia, was born into peril. His family sought to flee the Nazi invasion early in World War II; they were shipwrecked, caught, and put in a slave labor camp in Germany. They escaped in 1944 and ended up in a refugee camp outside Nuremberg, Germany, where their father, who spoke five languages, worked as a translator for the war trials. Finally, they immigrated to the United States, settling in Grand Junction, Colo., in 1950.

Odie came to Princeton from Grand Junction High School on a full Navy scholarship awarded for his accomplishments as an Eagle Scout. He majored in politics and took his meals at Cap and Gown.

Next came four years in the Navy, the first two in Newport, R.I., where he met Ginny on a blind date. They married in 1966. After Newport, he was stationed in Pearl Harbor and then the Philippines.

Odie earned a law degree from Georgetown. He began his career with an international firm in New York City, then worked for a firm in Tokyo, and for the next five years was associate counsel for Armco Steel. Odie moved on to become vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Hillenbrand Industries. In 2008, Odie opened his own firm in Cincinnati that specialized in advising on property and casualty insurance.

Odie is survived by Ginny and his sisters, Guna Carr and Ingrid Parsons.