A BIG MANboth in physique and in contributions to the world around himWalter Gahagan died of lymphoma Jan. 4, 1993, at the DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., near his summer home in Fairlee, Vt.
Nicknamed Bockey, he was on the football and track teams and was a participant in the 1932 Olympic Games. After receiving his law degree from Columbia in 1935, he practiced law in New York for four years and then worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York for three years. During WWII, he served as major on the general staff of the Eastern Defense Command. In 1943 he became president of Gahagan Dredging Corp., a familyowned dredging and construction business established by his father in 1898. During the next 26 years, Watt's company accomplished many large dredging projects, including the launching pad for the Apollo space missions, the Kennedy and New York international airports, and the Logan International Airport in Boston. He spent 13 years in Venezuela, and his enterprise also operated in Iraq, Thailand, Australia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The American Society of Civil Engineers Achievement Award was given to Walt in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Apollo moon mission. He was president of the National Assn. of River and Harbor Contractors. A dedicated philanthropist, Walt was active in community affairs wherever he lived.
He is survived by his widow, Gay Hayden; a son, Anthony; a daughter, Lillian; and a granddaughter; to all of whom the Class offers its sincere condolences.
The Class of 1932