Ned Dandridge '37

Agent extraordinaire Ned Dandridge '37 dies at eighty-five

Edmund "Ned" Dandridge '37, one of Kenyon's most faithful class agents and correspondents, died on April 23, 2000. He was eighty-five and a resident of North Falmouth, Massachusetts.

At Kenyon, Ned was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and the track team and an editor of the Collegian. He also participated in numerous drama productions. During World War II, Ned served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, achieving the rank of lieutenant commander.

After the war, Ned went on to earn a master's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D., also in English, from the University of Virginia. He taught for twelve years in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan before moving on to North Carolina State University. In 1980, Ned retired from North Carolina State after eighteen years as professor of English, director of the composition program, and director of the technical-writing seminar.

During his time in North Carolina, Ned also operated Dandridge Associates, an editorial consulting organization providing services to business and industry. He was active for many years in the Instrument Society of America and the Society for Technical Communication, which he served as an associate fellow and as copresident of the North Carolina chapter. Ned also served for several years as chair of the society's International Technical Communication Competition.

A tireless worker for and supporter of the College, even while suffering from the effects of osteoarthritis and throat cancer, Ned led his class to several years of 100-percent participation in the Kenyon Fund. In a 1989 letter to Kimberlee A. Klesner, then the College's director of development, he said, "I hope that what we have been able to accomplish will push other classes to even bigger and better efforts to do their part to support the wonderful place that has meant so much to us all over the years." Ned also made significant contributions to the Kenyon library, including rare editions of works by the nineteenth-century English comic artist George Cruikshank. He was honored by Alumni Council with the Distinguished Service Award for 1993-94 in recognition of his "outstanding personal contributions to the continuing alumni effort," which dated back at least as far as his service in the 1950s as president of the Detroit Regional Association and as a member of Alumni Council.

Ned was preceded in death by his wife, Berenice Rich Dandridge, who helped him to entertain legions of Kenyon visitors to the family's long-time summer home on Martha's Vineyard. He is survived by his sons, Edmund P. III and David C. Dandridge, and a sister, Elizabeth Wolf.

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