William DeWitt Hyde ’38

William DeWitt Hyde ’38 died on April 24, 2004, in Portland, Maine.

Born on August 20, 1916, in Boston, he prepared for college at Northampton (MA) High School and Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation in 1938, he joined the home office of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company in Massachusetts. He also worked in New York City and Philadelphia, PA, before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1944 to 1946 and attaining the rank of lieutenant junior grade. After the war, he became a special agent for the state of Maine with Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company. In 1956, he returned to the home office in Springfield as superintendent of multiple lines, and a year later he was named director of education for that company. In 1958, he joined the Aetna Insurance Company as a special agent in Maine and was promoted to manager for the state of Maine in 1963. In 1983, the firm merged with the Insurance Company of North America, and in 1984 he retired. He was a member of the Bowdoin Alumni Council from 1948 to 1952 and served as its president and as president of the Alumni Association in 1951-52. In the Portland area, he was a volunteer for a number of organizations, including the Maine Medical Center, the Baxter Elementary School in Portland, and a local soup kitchen and homeless center connected with the State Street Congregational Church’s work with the needy. He also volunteered with the South Freeport Church’s “Called to Care” program. Surviving are his two daughters, Sara H. Jurgeleit of Portland, ME and Susan H. Piehl ’82 of Aurora, CO; two sons, William D. Hyde, Jr. ’65 of Aurora and Stephen P. Hyde of Yarmouth, ME; a sister, Prudence H. Gibbons of Rumson, NJ, and 11 grandchildren.