Capt. Laurence Caney ’42, a career Naval officer, died on November 20, 2009, in Fairfax, Virginia.

He was born on July 3, 1921, in Gardiner, Maine, and graduated from Gardiner High School. He attended Bowdoin from 1938 to 1939, a member of Chi Psi fraternity, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1942 before enrolling in the Naval War College. He served in the Navy for 40 years, the last officer in his Academy class to retire from active duty. Most of his service was aboard destroyers in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. During World War II, he participated in the invasions of North Africa, Normandy, and southern France. In the Vietnam War, he served as a destroyer squadron commander. He spent a total of 28 years at sea or overseas, leading six sea commands with assignments in Europe and northern Iran where, in the 1970s, he developed and implemented a training program for the Imperial Iranian Navy. His service includes commodore of Destroyer Division 172, commander of 11-ship Destroyer Squadron Five in the Pacific Fleet, and commanding officer of destroyer escort USS Raymond. His shore assignments in the United States included the Naval War College; the Pentagon, where he contributed to the development of the Spruance-class destroyer; and command of the Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Md. In 1990, he wore the uniform for the last time when he was the guest speaker at the decommissioning of the guided missile destroyer DDG-7 Henry B. Wilson, which he had placed in commission 30 years earlier as the first commanding officer. His decorations included the Legion of Merit, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Bronze Star Medal with combat V, the Army Commendation and Joint Service Commendation Medal, and various campaign medals. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Dudley Corle; two sons, Lawrence D. Caney Jr. and John F. Caney; a daughter, Ellen Mugg; a sister, Imogene Caney Fair; four grandchildren, and two great-grandsons. His wife of 55 years, Ann Pomerleau Caney, predeceased him in 1998.