William G. Demarest ’40

Bill Demarest died May 4, 1996, in Beaufort, S.C., his principal residence for the past 10 years. He prepared at Loomis School, and at Princeton he majored in architecture and joined Cloister Inn. During WWII, he served as a naval officer on subchasers and a destroyer escort both in the Atlantic and Pacific. He received a master's in architecture from Columbia U. in 1947.

Bill specialized in building components, notably those on plastics. He was a consultant in building products and their markets and wrote a number of articles on the subject. Although he never practiced architecture as such, he did work for the American Institute of Architects and Homebuilder's Assn. He was cofounder of the Samaritans, an anti-suicide organization, and he did institutional fundraising on behalf of Columbia U. and the Berklee School of Music. Bill was a great fan of jazz music, vintage cars, and American history.

He is survived by his wife, Lynn; two stepsons, David and Bruce Millar; a stepdaughter, Gwendolen Phillips; and his brother, David, and his sister, Rosemary. To all of them, we extend our sympathies.

The Class of 1940