William W. Dudley Jr. ’60

Bill died Nov. 15, 2017.

Born and raised in rural Olean, N.Y., Bill came to us from The Hill School. He brought his country ways to Princeton in the form of muskrat trapping in Carnegie Swamp and an enthusiasm for firearms. Bill dried his pelts on his Pyne Hall fireplace and pursued weapons activities through the Pistol Club and Army ROTC. He dined at Tower Club, earned honors in geological engineering, and became battalion executive officer and winner of both the Cadet Award and the Alexander Hamilton Award in ROTC. He rather famously deferred his active duty Army service by shooting himself in the leg during an unsuccessful quick-draw exercise. He employed the time usefully by earning a master’s degree in engineering and a Ph.D. in geophysics and groundwater geology at the University of Illinois-Champaign.

Bill’s Army service was in geodetics in the Corps of Engineers, which led to his career with the U.S. Geological Survey. He served largely in the Western states studying groundwater issues, leading to revisions of federal doctrines of reserved water rights. He also worked on federal nuclear-waste disposal issues. He was awarded the Department of Interior’s distinguished service award in 1994 and retired in 2003. Prostate cancer surgery and successive health setbacks somewhat curtailed his many outdoor enthusiasms in his last years.