Just one month shy of his 112th birthday, the University's oldest alumnus, Walter H. Seward, died Sunday at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J.
"Rutgers has lost a true loyal son - someone who has given a lifetime of passion to his alma mater," said Donna Thornton, the vice president for Alumni Relations. "We are deeply saddened by his passing. For almost a century, Walter held Rutgers dear to his heart. He was a fixture at the reunion and was always eager to display his Scarlet pride."
Seward was born in Toledo, Ohio on Oct. 13, 1896, making him a man who lived to see three centuries. He moved to Vineland, N.J. during high school and made it to Rutgers College on a state scholarship, according to a press release.
In a 1996 interview with the Rutgers Oral History Archives, Seward described what it was like to be a University student at the then-all-male college in the early 20th century.
"I had to wear a little black cap with a green button on top, you know, as a freshman … and we had to carry matches for the upperclassmen," Seward said in the interview. "And not only that, but one time as a freshman, when starting the football season, and Rutgers was going down to Princeton, I carried the suitcase of White, one of the Rutgers men, down to the station for him."
Throughout his entire life, he was an avid fan of Rutgers football, having attended all but six homecoming celebrations since his graduation in 1917, according to The Star-Ledger.
Seward majored in what the University called a "classical course" - Greek, Latin, Roman law and Constitutional law, according to the interview. After graduating from Rutgers College cum laude in 1917, Seward went on to Harvard Law School and finished in 1924. He was also the oldest alumnus at Harvard, according to the Harvard Law Bulletin. Additionally, Seward was the sixth oldest man in the world, third oldest American man, and the oldest resident of New Jersey.
He helped to coordinate the chapel service of nearly every annual alumni reunion - although he has long been the only one from his class in attendance - and eventually served as grand marshal of the All-Alumni Reunion Parade, according to the press release.
In 2007, the University established the Walter H. Seward Reunion Spirit Award in his honor, and he was also a recipient of the Rutgers Loyal Son and Meritorious Service awards, according to the press release.
Seward married at age 61, had the first of his two children at 63, practiced law into his 90s and drove a car until he was 98, according to The Star-Ledger.
Relatives told newspapers that while he didn't indulge in bad smoking or drinking habits, he had one unhealthy obsession for the entirety of his life: strawberry ice cream.
"He absolutely doted on strawberry ice cream and would eat bowls of it from my earliest memory on," Jonathan Seward, Walter Seward's son, said in The Star-Ledger. "His diet was largely a matter of fat, salt, sugar, chocolate, ice cream and vegetables and carbohydrates cooked until they lost all resistance."
Walter Seward was preceded by his wife, Florence Gardner Seward, and was survived by his son, daughter Marymae Louise Henley of West Orange, and grandsons Ethan and Logan.
"Over the years, he's been an inspiration and a touchstone for thousands of people," Jonathan Seward said in The Star-Ledger. "People have told us what a difference he's made for them, and that's a really powerful statement for me."
A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kirkpatrick Chapel on the College Avenue campus.
Donations may be made to the Rutgers University Foundation, c/o The Walter Seward Memorial Fund, 7 College Ave., Winants Hall, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 for purpose of a bench by the Kirkpatrick Chapel and the support of the Rutgers Oral History program.
Be the first to comment on this article!