William V. Skidmore Jr. ’51

Bill was born Feb. 12, 1929. He went to high school in Ridgewood, N.J. Bill contracted polio when he was 15, but he was able after two years of rehab to recover fully except for complications with his left leg, which was seriously affected.

At Princeton he was a history major, belonged to Quadrangle, served on the Undergraduate Council, and was president of the Committee of Fifty. He roomed with Tim Barclay, Dick Howe, Clark Myers, and Bob Snable.

In 1952 Bill and Patricia “Trica” Brooks were married. While studying for his law degree at Yale, he was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study criminal law in India for two years. He earned a law degree in 1958.

Bill’s 40 years of professional life were spent working for the federal government. His favorite times were with the Agency for International Development and the Office of Economic Opportunity, Lyndon Johnson’s poverty program.

On his own time he founded the Levine School of Music and served on the board of Iona House, which provides essential services for older adults in the Washington, D.C., area.

Bill died Jan. 10, 2017, in Bozeman, Mont. He is survived by Trica; their children Wende DuFlon, Rebecca Fogel, and Peter Skidmore; eight grandchildren; and Bill’s sister Alice Culbreth.