William G. Van Pelt ’54

Bill died Sept. 19, 2018, of complications of Parkinson’s disease.

He came to us from Groton, where he played football, rowed crew, and was active in dramatics. At Princeton Bill majored in history, writing his senior thesis on “The History and Development of the Grenfell Mission,” a philanthropic organization providing health care in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was a member of Colonial Club and belonged to the Canterbury Society.

In the early years of his young adulthood, Bill taught his passion in history to young men at the Brooks School, in North Andover, Mass., but returned to his early home in the Philadelphia area to begin a career as a market-research analyst. Occupations changed throughout his life, leading him to own a house-painting franchise in Barrington, R.I., and later a coffee and snack catering and vending business in Lancaster, Pa.

An avid and accomplished sailor all his life, he spent summers in Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island and in Blue Hill, Maine. He was never without a dog, or several, and rarely without a camera.

Bill is survived by three children, three stepchildren, five grandchildren, and numerous step-grandchildren.