Uri Balcom Grannis Jr. ’35

After a brief illness, Balky died March 19, 2002.

He prepared for Princeton at The Hill School and in college majored in psychology, captained the swim team, managed the 150-pound crew, and joined Tiger Inn.

Before graduation he landed a job at American Brake Shoe & Foundry Co. He worked there for the next two decades, broken only by a few years off for duty as a Naval intelligence officer in World War II.

Not until years later did Balky admit his life had not worked out precisely as planned. His special talent was in sales management and therefore job moves were frequent at ABS as well as Borg Warner and Saab, the companies with which he spent the last 20 years of his career. That meant that he and his bride, Marjorie Banks, set up a dozen homes in Illinois, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Michigan in the first 45 years of their marriage. There were compensations: Balky made countless friends and spent many family vacations on Martha's Vineyard and in northern Ontario.

Retirement brought pleasures he had missed, including spending more time with classmates and doing more Schools and Scholarship Committee work for Princeton.

Marjorie died in 1996. Their sons Alexander B. ("Pete"), Uri B. III, and Jonathan G. survived Balky, as did six grandchildren.

The Class of 1935