Born on May 26, 1919, in New York City, he prepared for college at the Taft School in Watertown, CT, and became a member of Zeta Psi Fraternity at Bowdoin. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1941 to 1946, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. He returned to the College in February of 1946 and graduated after the spring semester as a member of the Class of 1942. That year he joined the Tennessee Eastman Company, a division of Eastman Kodak Company, and remained employed there until he retired in 1984. He was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kingsport, the Ridgefields Country Club, the Kingsport Kiwanis Club, the American Legion, and the Kingsport Power Squadron; was a volunteer with Meals on Wheels; and served on the board of the Salvation Army and the Friends of the Archives. Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth Andrews Platt, whom he married in 1944; a daughter, Carol P. Hanrick of Alexandria, VA; three sons, Joseph S. Platt, Jr. of Memphis, TN, Henry Platt of Brentwood, TN, and Andrew Platt of Yorktown, VA; a sister, Nancy P. Van Orden of McLean, VA; and nine grandchildren.