OBITS: Oxonians (Updated Nov. 27, 2015)

2015 - Sheila Kitzinger (St. Hugh's)

I once had a half-time job at the Harvard News Office writing stories about my fellow students for their hometown newspapers.

2015 - Dan Topolski (New College), Last
of the Great Amateur Rowing Coaches.

Since then I never got out of the habit of hunting for highlights in the time people spend on earth. Oxonians have interesting lives.

This list opened in March 2015. I'm working proactively on finding female Oxonians. They arrived in numbers so late and they have long lives.

If you have obits to suggest or a link to a good one already written, please email me - jtmarlin@post.harvard.edu. Oxford birthdays here.

2015 | Dan Topolski (New) | Sheila Kitzinger (St. Hugh's)

2014 - George "Jerry" Goodman
(BNC), a.k.a. "Adam Smith".

2014 | George Goodman, "Adam Smith" (BNC)
2013 | Denis Woodfield (Lincoln) | Peter Darrow (Trinity)
2011 | Christopher Hitchens (Balliol)
1991 | "Dr. Seuss" (Theodor Giesel, Lincoln)
1984 | Basil "Gaffer" Blackwell (Merton)
1973 | J.R.R. Tolkien (Exeter)
1963 | C. S. Lewis (Univ.)
1956 | E. Clerihew Bentley (Merton)
1944 | Arthur Quiller-Couch, "Q" (Trinity)
1935 | T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) (Trinity)
1922 | James Viscount Bryce (Trinity)
1917 | Noel Godfrey Chavasse (Trinity)

1778 - William Pitt the Elder

1898 | Charles Dodgson, "Lewis Carroll" (Ch.Ch.)
1890 | John Henry Cardinal Newman (Trinity)
1792 | Frederick Lord North (Trinity)
1791 | John Wesley (Ch.Ch.)
1790 | Adam Smith (Balliol)
1788 | Charles Wesley (Ch.Ch.)
1785 | James Oglethorpe (Corpus), 1st Gov. of Georgia
1778 | William Pitt the Elder, Lord Chatham (Trinity)
1653 | Rev. Lawrence Washington (BNC), GW's gggrandfather
1675 | Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (Trinity)
1647 | Leonard Calvert (Trinity), 1st Gov. of Maryland
1632 | George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (Trinity)

OXFORD: Boat Race Dinner History, Obits

Photo from the 79th BRD NYC, 2012.

This blogsite focuses on the history of the Boat Race Dinner, especially in NYC; the Boat Races; and the impact of Oxford and Cambridge alumni on the USA and Canada.

Boat Race Dinners in USA and Canada .
History of the Boat Race . Oxonian obituaries
Oxonian birthdays

Please send any relevant links to your blogger (Trinity Oxford 1962) JTMarlin@post.harvard.edu.

2016 | 83rd BRD NYC | BRD Dates US-Canada
2015 | 82nd BRD NYC | BRD Dates US-Canada | History of the Boat Race | Map of US BRDs | Topolski Obit
2014 | 81st BRD NYC | 81st BRD NYC Photos | History of the Boats | Goodman Obit | Rowing Blazers | Speaker: Lord Patten, Chancellor, Oxford University
2013 | 80th BRD NYC | BRD Dates US-Canada | Woodfield Obit | Darrow Obit
2012 | 79th BRD NYC | Speaker: Vice-Chancellor Andrew Hamilton

Jim Rogers (L) and friends, 2005

2011 | 78th BRD NYC | Speakers: James Doty, Chairman, PCAOB; Sir Martin Taylor (Merton)
2010
2009 | 76th BRD NYC | Speaker: Lord Selkirk of Douglas
2008 | 75th BRD NYC (the late Dan Topolski was a speaker)
2007 |  3rd Annual Alumni Boat Race NYC
2006
2005 | 72nd BRD NYC - Speaker: Jim Rogers - see photo at right.
2004
2003
2002
2001
1999
1998 | 65th BRD NYC
1992 | 46th BRD Washington, DC
1969 |                    $13
1954 | 21st BRD NYC - Speakers and Menu ($8)
1949 | 17th BRD NYC - Speakers and Menu

OBITS: Three U.S. Oxonians - Prentice, Darrow, Woodfield

William C. H, Prentice

PRENTICE, William C. H., d. July 28, 2013. Rhodes Scholar and college president. Died in Schenectady, NY. Obituary notice in the NY Times of August 4, 2012, p. 21. He is a 1937 graduate of Swarthmore and presumably matriculated at Oxford that fall. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in psychology in1942.

He was recruited for the Clandestine National Defense Research Committee during WW2. He became chairman of the psychology dept at Swarthmore, then President of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., 1962-1975.

Peter Darrow

DARROW, Peter V., d. May 19, 2013. Athlete and attorney, died in at NY Presbyterian Hospital New York City. He was a resident of NYC and Sag Harbor, NY. His obituary appears in the East Hampton Star of May 23, 2013 and notices were in the NY Times. He graduated from Columbia in 1972, attended Trinity College for the next two years, and then attended the University of Michigan Law School.

He was associated as an attorney with Mayer Brown and DLA Piper. Since 2008 he was married to Denise Seegal. With his first wife Leni he had two children, Meredith and Peter. He was President of the Trinity College, Oxford Society USA.

Denis B. Woodfield

WOODFIELD, Denis Buchanan, d. April 11, 2013. Formerly of Rye, N.Y., died in Princeton, New Jersey. He was born in New York City in 1933, the year that the New York City Oxford-Cambridge Dinner, which he chaired, started. His formative years were spent in Switzerland, where he attended The College de Vevey, and graduated from Harvard University, class of 1954, aged 20. Deferring his acceptance to Lincoln College, Oxford, he served in the U.S. military, attending the Army Language School in Monterey, California to learn Russian. 

He was then sent to the 513th Military Intelligence in Germany to be Chief US Army Interpreter, Armed Forces Central Europe for three years. Returning to civilian life, he attended Oxford, graduating with a D.Phil. in English bibliography. He was a life-long lover and buyer of rare books. His book Surreptitious Printing in England, 1550-1640, became a valuable commodity. Married in London, England, in 1963, to Rosemary Humphries, the couple moved to Rye. At this time, he was employed by the Chase Manhattan Bank. Three years later, he went to work for General Electric followed by six years with Pan American World Airways as director of Cash and Banking. 

Moving to Princeton, NJ, he joined Johnson & Johnson, where he spent 20 years in finance, including as Assistant Treasurer for Cash and Banking. He published four books and for many years was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the British Schools and Universities Foundation. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 2012. He was active in the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of New Jersey, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Mayflower Society, and the Baronial Order of the Magna Carta.

R.I.P. | Dr. Denis B. Woodfield, NYC Dinner Chairman #2, Died at 79

Denis B. Woodfield

Denis Buchanan Woodfield, D.Phil., formerly of Rye, N.Y., died on April 17, 2013 at the age of 79. Cause of death was pancreatic cancer. He lived in Princeton, New Jersey.

Denis was born in New York City in 1933, the year that the New York City Oxford-Cambridge Dinner — of which he was the second chairman — started. 

Growing up in Vermont and Maine, his formative years were spent in Switzerland, where he attended The College de Vevey, and graduated from Harvard, class of 1954, aged 20. 

Deferring his acceptance to Lincoln College, Oxford University, he served in the U.S. military, attending the Army Language School in Monterey, California to learn Russian. Upon completion, he was sent to the 513th Military Intelligence in Germany where he worked as Chief US Army Interpreter, Armed Forces Central Europe for three years, frequently being a simultaneous translator at NATO meetings.

Returning to civilian life, he took up his position at Oxford University, attaining his D.Phil. in English bibliography. He was a life-long lover and buyer of rare books. His book Surreptitious Printing in England, 1550-1640, has itself become a valuable commodity.

Married in London, England, in 1963, to Rosemary Humphries, the couple moved to Rye. At this time, he was employed by the Chase Manhattan Bank. Three years later, he went to work for General Electric followed by six years with Pan American World Airways as their director of Cash and Banking. Moving to Princeton, New Jersey, Denis joined Johnson & Johnson, where he spent the next 20 years in various financial functions, including as Assistant Treasurer for Cash and Banking. 

Following his retirement at age 60, he became the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Industries and Services Association in New York City. 

Denis kept up his academic interests throughout his life. He published three books in addition to the one already cited, and for many years was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the British Schools and Universities Foundation. One of his proudest accomplishments was being elected in 2012 an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford University. 

He was a member of the Harvard Club, and many Patriotic Societies such as the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of New Jersey, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Mayflower Society, and the Baronial Order of the Magna Carta. 

Denis leaves behind his wife of 50 years, Rosemary, and their three children—Katherine Woodfield Hermes, Nicholas Wyckoff Woodfield, and Elizabeth Dudley Woodfield (Carlucci) — and seven grandchildren. He was the older brother of the late Anthony Wyckoff Woodfield, and is survived by his sister Rosamond Woodfield Larr (Roz), and his step-father, Irving Charles Herrmann, both of Rye. 

The funeral will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at the Church of St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mt. Harmony Road, Bernardsville, NJ at 4 pm. 

Condolences at centraljersey.com/articles/2013/04/19/obituaries/ob_0001239202-01.txt#blogcomments

More Oxonian Obits