Walter F. Pittis ’50

Walt died July 16, 2014, at his home in Ocean Grove, N.J.

He prepared at Lawrenceville with his twin brother, Bertram ’50. World War II interrupted their education and both joined the military in 1943, where Walt served in the Army Air Corps.

After being discharged in 1946, he entered Princeton and the twins majored in mechanical engineering. While working as an engineer after graduation, Walt earned a master’s degree in engineering from Columbia. From the mid-1950s to his retirement in 2002, he worked for Pittis Estates, a property-management firm in his birthplace of Plainfield, N.J.

In the early 1960s, Walt and Bertram realized that the carillon donated by their uncle to Grace Episcopal Church of Plainfield badly needed repair. With a restoration plan devised with Princeton professor and bellmaster Arthur Bigelow, they devoted weekends over the next 10 years to its restoration: reinstalling higher octave bells which were recast in France, replacing wiring that levered the clappers, and installing two additional octaves. Among carillonneurs today, it is known as “The Pittis Carillon.”

Our sympathy goes to Lois, Walt’s wife of 65 years; sons Arthur and David; daughter Elizabeth; brother Albert ’52; and six grandchildren. Bertram died in 2011.