William B. Kerkam Jr. ’32

Bill, a retired patent, copyright, and trademark lawyer who had practiced in the Washington, DC, area for 50 years before he retired in 1985, died of respiratory failure Feb. 18, 2001, at his home in Lewes, Del. He was 89.

Bill was a graduate of St. Albans School in his native Washington. At Princeton he majored in chemistry and physics. In 1935 he graduated from George Washington U.'s law school. He served on active duty in the Army during WWII and retired from the Reserves in the mid-1950s as a lieutenant-colonel.

He began his professional career in 1935, when he joined his father's Washington law firm, Cameron, Kerkam & Sutton. He retired from the law as a senior partner in the Falls Church law firm of Kerkam, Stowell, Kondracki & Clarke.

Bill was a member of the Lewes Historical Society. His hobbies included sailing and woodworking.

His first wife, the former Elizabeth Howison Gill, whom he married in 1935, died in 1987. His second wife, the former Joan H. Goodwyn, whom he married in 1989, died in 1999.

Survivors include three sons from his first marriage, William III, James G., and Stephen H., and five grandchildren.

The Class of 1932