William A. Guthrie ’47

Bill, for whom logic, language, and literature were the pillars of life, died June 4, 2011.

Bill grew up in Princeton, attended Princeton Country Day School, and before matriculating at Princeton graduated from Deerfield Academy.

He joined the Naval V-12 program, graduated in 1947, and was a serious student bent on becoming a writer. Eventually he attended the Yale School of Fine Arts; then, following some time in Paris, returned and for many years lived in New York City, self-employed as a struggling playwright.

In the 1970s Bill moved to Boston and joined the publishing firm Little Brown in its advertising department. In the 1980s he moved to Cambridge, Mass., and on occasion gave lectures on advertising at Boston universities. Bill loved his small, unheated cottage in Kennebunkport, Maine. He was a private man and never married.

He is survived by the five children of his beloved sister, Anne, and her husband, Lucien Yokana; and the four sons of his sister, Isabelle, whom he adored visiting in Martha’s Vineyard. He helped raise and mentor his nephews, W. Guthrie Sayen ’71, David C. Sayen ’73, George ’74, and Henry L. Sayen ’76. For them it was painful to witness his 17-year battle with dementia, heart disease, and their manifestations, and they will always miss him as their mentor. The class wishes to pay its respects and send best wishes to his family.