Deceased November 3, 2019
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In Memory
I am saddened to report the death of Ernest Palmer III on Nov. 3 in Glenview, Ill. Ernie grew up in Winnetka, Ill., where he was an active member of the Presbyterian Church for more than 60 years. At the time of his death, Ernie was the proprietor of a financial planning firm with an eponymous name in Northfield, Ill. He founded the firm in 1976 after spending four years at the First National Bank of Chicago. While working at the Bank, Ernie earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Ernie was one of five classmates from New Trier High School. At Amherst, Ernie displayed an uninhibited zest for life, beginning with impromptu bits at football games including dressing in a raccoon coat, leap-frogging over complicit spectators and inciting his Morrow dorm mates to cheer louder. Ernie and I became friends when we both joined Psi U later that year.
Midway through his sophomore year, Ernie moved into the Psi U house and became the life of the fraternity’s social functions. His legendary exploits included sleeping on the duct pipes above the bar and wearing a mini to the annual toga party. After his sophomore year, Ernie left Amherst for a semester but returned in January 1970. Two months later, a grinning Ernie was prominently displayed in Life magazine in a photo with David Durk ’57, who was recruiting Amherst students for the New York police department. In his senior year, Ernie served on the College Council and worked to achieve parity between the student and faculty members of the council. He graduated with his classmates as an English major.
Ernie is survived by his four siblings and his three children, Brittany, Brooke and Daniel. The class extends its sympathy to them all.
Tom Taylor ’71