Walter H. Lippincott ’60

Walter’s life was shaped by the sophomore music appreciation course that introduced him to opera. It led to a lifelong dedication to the art, thousands of live performances all over the world, and encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. Fortunately, Walter was an excellent conversationalist and always interesting on the subject. He prepared at St. Paul’s and at Princeton majored in history and joined Ivy.

Walter went to Wall Street on graduation, was unhappy in banking, and moved to publishing with Harper & Row in 1963. He thrived in publishing, especially in academic editorial work at Cambridge University Press and Cornell Press, before coming back to Princeton as director of the University Press in 1986. He retired in 2005, expressing great appreciation for the fine academics he edited and the many promising candidates he nurtured.

Walter came to matrimony and then parenthood in 1974 when he married Caroline Seebohm. They divorced years later but remained fast friends and traveling companions for many more years. Children were a very pleasant surprise to an early doubter and became as important as opera to his senior years.

Walter died Jan. 18, 2025. A son of ’32 he leaves three Tiger offspring and three grandchildren.