Deceased December 22, 2017
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In Memory
My family and I are sad to report the passing of my dad on Dec. 22. Dad graduated from Harvard Business School in 1955. The previous year he was introduced to Patty Bundy (Smith College); they were married in 1955. I came along a year later, joined by sisters Susan and Betsy. Except for two years in New York City, we were based in Boston.
Dad started his post-HBS career at New England Life in 1955. Lazard took him to New York in 1971–73. He then returned to Boston to the Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada as chief investment officer for the United States. He retired in 1996. He served on the board of directors for the Cambridge Trust and the National Grange and on the board of trustees of the Dexter School and the Chestnut Hill School.
Although Dad said he “majored in movies” at Amherst, I’m sure that wasn’t entirely the case. He played on the club hockey team and remembered that he and his teammates often had to shovel the outdoor natural-ice surface before practices and games. He was a member of Beta House; one of his fondest memories was playing on the Beta touch football team along with Korean War veterans well into their mid-20s and uninterested in playing varsity football. That team ruled Amherst’s touch football fields. He developed a strong game of duplicate bridge, which he played enthusiastically and successfully until a few days before he died.
Dad was the son of Charles G. Wray ’24. Brothers Peter ’57 and Michael ’58 followed him to Amherst. I graduated in ’78, my cousin Charlie in ’86 and my son, David III, aka Trip, in 2011. Dad also leaves four great-grandchildren. My wife, Deidre ’81, and I will ardently cheer that Amherst will continue as the “family school” for at least one of them.
David B Wray Jr. ’78