Kingman Brewster, Jr.

60
Kingman Brewster, Jr. bigraphy, stories - American diplomat

Kingman Brewster, Jr. : biography

June 17, 1919 – November 8, 1988

Kingman Brewster, Jr., (June 17, 1919 – November 8, 1988) was an educator, president of Yale University, and American diplomat.

Additional notes

  • He is thought to be the inspiration for Garry Trudeau’s fictional character, President King, in the popular comic strip, Doonesbury.

Life and career

Early life

New York Times.

In 1923, when he was 4, his parents separated and later divorced.Kabaservice, 17 He and his surviving sister, Mary, were raised by their mother first in Springfield, Massachusetts and later in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother was a firm influence but never overbearing. One of Brewster’s friends characterized her as "one of those people whose presence you always felt when she was in the room".Kabaservice, 18 Another friend remembered that "she knew poetry, she knew music, she knew art, she knew architecture, and believe me, she knew Kingman."Kabaservice, 18

Kingman wrote that his mother was a "marvelously speculative and philosophical type," a "free-thinking spirit…given to far-out enthusiasms and delighting in sprightly arguments with her more intellectually conventional friends.Kabaservice, 17Kabaservice, 18

His mother remarried in 1932 to Edward Ballantine. He was the son of William Gay Ballantine, the fourth president of Oberlin College, and Emma Frances Atwood.Ballantine received his education at Harvard, class of 1907, and after a period of study in Berlin returned to Harvard University as a professor of music from 1912 to 1947. His compositions are tonal and in a post-Romantic style, and he often incorporates humor and satire in his work. One of his best known works is a set of variations for piano on the theme of Mary Had A Little Lamb. In this piece, each variation is in the manner of a different composer. He also wrote chamber, vocal and stage works. New York Times. July 4, 1971. He was a music professor at Harvard University and composer she had known since childhood. He was, however, without a real father role, until his uncle, Arthur Besse, stepped into that role. One of Besse’s sons described him as "a man of tremendous warmth and honesty, a generous and wonderfully moral person." He was by all accounts a very good surrogate father.Kabaservice, 20 Kingman described his stepfather as "marvelous, and sensitive to the point of vulnerability." However, he had no children of his own and did not want to play a fatherly role.Kabaservice, 20

Marriage and family

In 1942, while serving in the armed services, he married in Jacksonville, Florida, Mary Louise Phillips, Yale University Office of Public Affairs. April 19, 2004.Kabaservice, 92–115–294 born August 30, 1920 in Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of Mary and Eugene James Phillips,Kabaservice, 89 (he was a 1905 graduate of Yale College, and a 1907 graduate of Yale Law School). She graduated in 1939 from the Wheeler School and attended but did not graduate from Vassar College. She died on April 14, 2004 at her home in Combe, Berkshire, England at age 83. She was buried next to her husband in the Grove Street Cemetery. Yale Bulletin&Calendar. April 23, 2004.

Kingman and Mary were the parents of 5 children. Their granddaughter is actress Jordana Brewster. His first cousin was Janet Huntington BrewsterJones, 235–521Kabaservice, 486Sperber, 11–12–15–16–17–22–50 (September 18, 1910 –December 18, 1998) who was an American philanthropist, writer, radio broadcaster and relief worker during World War II in London. She was married to Edward R. Murrow (April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) who was an American broadcast journalist. His uncle, Stanley King, (May 11, 1883 – April 28, 1951) was the eleventh president of Amherst College. He held that position from 1932 to 1946.Kabaservice, 32

Education and war years

After graduating from Belmont Hill SchoolKabaservice, 25–28–51 in Belmont, Massachusetts, he entered Yale University,Kabaservice, 51 graduating in 1941 where he was chairman of the Yale Daily News. His junior year, he turned down an offer of membership in Skull and Bones becoming a legend in Yale undergraduate lore.