W. Redwood Wright ’50

Red died May 8, 2017, in Woods Hole, Mass.

A Germantown (Pa.) Friends graduate, he served briefly in the Army Signal Corps. At Princeton, where his father was a member of the Class of 1918, he sang in the Glee Club and belonged to Cannon. He graduated with high honors in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1960, after working for two newspapers, he became the public information officer for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Fascinated by the sea, he resigned from this job to earn not only a master’s degree, but a doctorate in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.

Red rejoined WHOI’s scientific staff. In 1976, he moved to the National Marine Fisheries lab as senior oceanographer. He was involved with the Bermuda Biological Station for nearly 20 years, serving as its unpaid president for nine.

He was active in politics and town government. He was an accomplished sailor, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a 40-foot ketch and competing in four Newport-to-Bermuda races. For 30 years, he and his family cruised the New England coast in their 31-foot classic woodcutter, Mocking Bird.

Red is survived by his children, Catharine, Elinor, and William; brother Ellicott ’50; and five grandchildren. Mary, his wife of 61 years, died in February 2017.