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 LEYDEN - Peter III, 87, died of natural causes on March 8, 2014, at his home in Annapolis, Maryland. Born in Laconia, New Hampshire, on August 28, 1926, he spent his childhood in Flushing, New York, before attending Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, where he was president of his class, captain of the football team as well as a diver and lacrosse player. He served in the Navy during World War II. After graduating from Colgate University, Pete became a high school history teacher and later principal of Lynbrook High School on Long Island. During retirement in the Shenandoah mountains of Lexington, Virginia, and later in Annapolis, Maryland, he continued to serve as president of his Mount Hermon class, as treasurer for a hospital auxiliary, and as patriarch of his sprawling Leyden clan. A natural-born leader and gregarious man, Pete was loved by scores of people from all walks of life. He will be soely missed.
Brenda Zwickel let Jerry (and Stuart Rosenthal) know about this. Here is Stuart's response:
Thx, Brenda. I just looked up his obit....graduate of Colgate, in high school – pres. of class and capt. of football team. He was actually asst. principal while we were @ LHS and was promoted to principal a few years later when the principal was, if my memory serves me correctly, promoted to supt. of schools. I got to know him pretty well, although he was a guy who played it pretty close-to-the-vest. I edited the paper junior and senior years, and during the junior year, I did not yet have my driver’s license; so he would drive me at least once-a-week to the printer in Freeport.
I hadn’t thought about him in at least a decade or two, and I don’t recall why, but a little over a week ago, for some reason, something jogged what little is left of my memory, and I wondered whether he would still be alive. I am almost certain that this happened on Saturday, March 8th, which is the day he died. Coincidence? Probably. Life seems to be full of these coincidences. My younger daughter celebrated her birthday on St. Patrick’s Day. She was born on March 17, 1980. My dad’s father (who died b4 I was born) was also born on St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, 1880 – one hundred years to the day.
Anyway, Leyden was a neat guy, and it appears (from the attached obit.) that he enjoyed a long and interesting life.
Hope all is well with you.
Stuart
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Barbara Schratweiser
Thank you so much for this update, Stuart. I am glad Mr. Leyden enjoyed such a full, rewarding life. He was a fine man.
P.S. I felt such a pang when I saw the subject line of your e-mail and was relieved that it wasn't one of our classmates.