William M. Thompson Jr. ’60

An able poet and determined conservationist, Bill was born and raised near Albany, N.Y., and prepared for Princeton at Phillips Exeter Academy. He majored in religion, was active in Triangle, and dined at Charter Club.

Determined on a career in writing, Bill began his working career in journalism with local presses in southern Connecticut. In time he took up poetry and spent many years of his life in that work. He retired from that pursuit several times but returned to it as often as he felt he had more to say. His work is published in several anthologies of American poetry. He was active in the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Society of America.

Attracted to the Long Island straits soon after his college years, Bill became active for more than three decades in efforts to conserve the West Haven shoreline and helped to preserve more than five miles of shoreline, the longest protected stretch on Long Island Sound. He loved travel, often to locations with a beach and an ocean in its destination.

Bill died July 13, 2024. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Ann Louise; four children; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren, to whom the class sends its sympathies.