William Thacher Longstreth ’41

Our most enthusiastic classmate, Thacher, died Apr. 11, 2003, of heart failure. Crippled with Parkinson's disease his last few years, he maintained a warm personality to the end.

Coming to Princeton from Haverford School, he played varsity football and was on the track team. He was senior class president and manager of Ivy Club. He roomed first with Bill Vauclain and Sam Finnell, and then with Stan Pearson at Ivy.

Thach served in the Navy in WWII, winning two Bronze Stars, and leaving as a lieutenant commander.

After the war, he worked for Life magazine and an ad agency, and became president of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in 1964. In 1955 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Philadelphia.

In 1967 he was elected to Philadelphia City Council (a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate). He ran for mayor again in 1971, was defeated, then re-elected to the council for six terms.

In 1990 he published his autobiography, Main Line Wasp. His love for Princeton was unbounded. We shall miss him!

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Nancy Claghorn Longstreth; sons Peter '66 and William T. Jr.; daughters Anne Delay and Ellen Goodwin; 12 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

The Class of 1941