William James Arraj ’73

Billy died May 25, 2019, at Lake Forest Park, Wash.

Born Aug. 1, 1952, to James and Margaret Arraj in Queens, N.Y., Billy grew up loving to play basketball. He attended Regis High School in New York City, where he sang in the glee club and was active in the Homeric Society, reading Homer in Greek during his senior year.

After Princeton, where he majored in religion, he received a Fulbright-Hays scholarship and studied at Wolfson College at Oxford. He later attended the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate in 1988 for work on South Asian languages and civilizations.

Billy was interested in music and the arts. He was known for his patience and compassion and his ability to strike up a conversation with anyone.

In 1990, Billy married Collett Davis Cox. They had a daughter, Emily Collett Arraj. The class extends its sympathy Billy’s family.