William L. McLean III ’49

William McLean died of kidney failure Aug. 27, 2011.

Bill was born Oct. 4, 1927, in Philadelphia. He was the last of his family to run The Philadelphia Bulletin, which his grandfather, the first William L. McLean, had bought in 1895. Once the smallest of the city’s 13 newspapers, The Bulletin had the largest circulation of any afternoon newspaper in the nation by the 1950s.

Bill came to Princeton from Millbrook School, majored in history and humanities, won the Grace May Tilton Prize, and graduated magna cum laude. He was news editor of The Daily Princetonian and belonged to Quadrangle Club. He was the fifth member of his family to attend Princeton.

Bill loved the newspaper business and was variously puzzled, troubled, and fascinated by the sea changes in journalism he witnessed — and was a part of — during his lifetime. He also loved fishing, hunting, and the outdoors.

Bill is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his children, Elizabeth “Lisa” McLean, Will McLean, Helen Brooke Katzenbach, Sandra McLean, and Ward McLean; and five grandchildren. The sympathies of his classmates are extended to them all.