Deceased August 17, 2019
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In Memory
Sid Bixler died on Aug. 17 peacefully at home surrounded by family and friends. He came from a long line of Amherst connections starting in 1879: grandfather, father, stepmother, two great-uncles, aunt and three uncles, one of whom became president of Colby College.
Sid came to Amherst from Phillips Exeter Academy and obtained his law degree at Harvard. At Amherst Sid majored in economics. He was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and played football, lacrosse and track. He was also a heavyweight wrestler and was known for wrestling classmates including Bill Keith ’61 in the hallway of Morrow dorm. Sid received the Harlan Fiske Stone prize.
After law school, Sid moved to Anchorage, Alaska, then joined the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., in the tax and civil rights divisions. He began the work for which he was most proud, enforcing voting rights, monitoring redistricting and filing lawsuits coming from investigations mainly in Mississippi and Virginia.
He then went into private practice, focusing on criminal defense, which led him to work in the office of the attorney general of the District of Columbia. Sid realized he could help both the criminal and the victim by becoming a compassionate prosecutor. He retired in 2011 and moved to Jaffrey, N.H., where he had spent his childhood. There he was active in the Red Cross, Thorndike Club and Monadnock Quaker Meeting.
He had a lifelong dedication to civil rights and to ending gun violence, and a lifelong passion for the law.
Sid is survived by his wife, Nan Beiter; children Joshua Bixler, Matthew Bixler (wife Melissa Bixler), Joanna Beiter and Meg Beiter (husband Spencer Henderson); grandson Carter; sisters Aggie Bixler Kurtz (husband Tom Kurtz) and Elizabeth Bixler (spouse Betsy East); and many friends.
Ted Ells ’61