Donald B. Hamister '44

Donald B. Hamister '44 H'89, on January 9, 2006. He was eighty-five and a resident of Santa Barbara, California.

Don came to Kenyon in September 1940, but his collegiate career was interrup ted by World War II. He joined the United States Naval Air Wing in 1942, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. In July 1946, he returned to the College, completing his degree in February 1947. Don, who majored in physics and graduated cum laude, was also a member of Delta Phi fraternity. In 1989, when he received an honorary degree, Don and his wife, Peg, established the Donald B. Hamister Fund to support projects in the Kenyon physics department.

Don began his career at the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Company in Cleveland, working for a year before he began college. After graduating from Kenyon, he continued his education at Stanford University and, later, the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. During his sixty-year tenure at Joslyn, Don served as general manager of Joslyn Electronic Systems, which he relocated from Chicago to Goleta, California, in 1962. In 1973, he was named vice president and general manager of Joslyn Stainless Steel Division in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1978, Don was elected chief executive officer of the renamed Joslyn Corporation and president of the board of directors. He commuted from Santa Barbara, and his home in Rancho San Antonio, to the corporate headquarters in Chicago. Retiring from day-to-day activity in 1995, he continued as chairman and consultant, reorganizing the electronic systems division and the Joslyn Stamping Company, in the City of Industry. He was named chairman emeritus of the Joslyn Corporation, and served as chairman of the Airline Avionics Institute of IEEE and on the board of Brewer-Tichner Corporation.

Don was a member of the University Club of Chicago. He was a generous benefactor to Kenyon, the University of Wisconsin, and Santa Barbara institutions, among them Cottage Hospitals, Planned Parenthood, the Santa Barbara Symphony, Friends of the Goleta Library, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, among others.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-nine years, Margaret "Peg" Singiser; and his children, Don Bruce Hamister and Tracy Alan Levine; his brother, Kenneth Hamister '48 P'70; and sisters-in-law, Sue Hamister and Gina Hamister. He was preceded in death by brothers Richard Hamister '42 and David Hamister '51. Memorial contributions may be made to the Cottage Hospital Rebuilding Fund, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, P.O. Box 689, Santa Barbara, California, 93102-0689, or to a charity of choice.

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