Bertie died Sept. 24, 1999, after a long battle with cancer.

He most recently was president of Thoroughbred Cars, Inc., Pell Enterprises, Inc., Anasazi Motor Co., and secretary of Thoroughbred Pain and Body, all based in Arizona. He pursued this love of automobiles after working as vice president of Valley National Bank.

Bertie was educated at St. Alban's and St. George's schools before studying art history at Princeton. He then received a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, where he met his future wife, Eugenia Stillman Diehl, in a drawing class. They married in 1969. Bertie served in the Coast Guard, participating in dangerous rescues off Cape Hatteras and in Juneau, Alaska. He coordinated sea and air rescue missions, including the search for Congressman Hale Boggs. He received the Coast Guard Achievement Medal for writing the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Handbook. He left the Coast Guard in 1973 as a lieutenant and moved to Tucson. Bertie continued his love of the sea by visiting Newport in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter.

The elder son of former Sen. and Mrs. Claiborne Pell '40, Bertie is survived by his wife, his daughter, Christina, his son, Herbert Claiborne IV, a brother, two sisters, and five nieces and nephews.

The Class of 1967

Class Year: 
Undergraduate Class of 1967