Former Princeton resident
VERO BEACH, Fla. — Gilbert Lea died May 4. He was 95.
Born in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and grew up in the family home in Wynnewood, Pa. He was a resident of Princeton from 1936 to 1961 and was greatly involved in alumni affairs at his alma mater, Princeton University.
Mr. Lea had a long career in publishing and advertising.
He attended the Montgomery School and then St. Paul School, Concord, N.H., where he graduated in 1932. At St. Paul’s he received the Gordon Medal awarded to the best all around athlete and was captain of the football team. After graduation he attended Princeton University, where he started on the football team for four years as an end when players were expected to play both offence and defense. That team was ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1933 and 1935. He was a member of Cottage Club and graduated in 1936.
His early working years were interrupted by military service during the World War II. He served in the Army as an artillery instructor for two years at Fort Sill, Okla., and one year in California and Texas helping to build the 13th Armored Division. In the last year of the war he was assigned to the European theater as a battalion commander of an armored artillery unit attached to the 3rd Army commanded by General George S. Patton. He ended the war in Bavaria as a lieutenant colonel and was awarded several battle stars and an air medal for commanding the assault of a combat.
He was active in Princeton University alumni affairs as chairman of Annual Giving 1961-1962, chairman of the Athletic Committee, president of Princeton Alumni Associations in both Maine and Vero Beach, Fla., and served on the Princeton Alumni Council for almost 20 years.
He served on the executive committees of the National Football Foundation and the Visiting Nurses Association. He was president of the Pretty Brook Tennis Club for 17 years.
Most of Mr. Lea’s professional life was spent in New York, first for Time magazine from 1936 to 1948, for Business Week for four years as executive vice president in charge of the eastern market; then moving to McGraw Hill as the eastern manager in the advertising division for Business Week; then as advertising director of McCall’s Magazine.
He left McGraw Hill in 1957 to work for 12 years at Ogilvy & Mather as vice president in charge of new business including ultimately serving as the agency’s account executive for Sears Roebuck. He was instrumental in getting public approval for the construction of Lincoln Center in Manhattan.
In 1938 he married Nancy Nalle of Charlotte, N.C. In 1962 he married Phyllis Thaxter and not long after they moved to Cumberland Foreside, Maine. In 1967 he purchased the Tower Publishing Co. of Portland, Maine, which he operated until 1982. He became full-time resident of Vero Beach, Fla., in 1982.
He was a parishioner at St. Mary’s Church in Falmouth, Maine, and was a longtime member of the Portland Country Club. He was also head of the American Cancer Society and was a trustee of the Baxter School for the Deaf. His avocations included painting, tennis, sailing and golf.
Father of the late Gilbert Lea Jr., he is survived by his wife of 46 years, Phyllis Thaxter Lea; daughter Ann L. Fries of Savannah, Ga.; son Thomas Lea of Cumberland Foreside, Maine; stepdaughter Skye Aubrey of Orlando, Fla.; stepson James Aubrey of Princeton; and his first wife, Nancy Genung of Princeton.
A memorial service will be held in Maine at a date yet to be determined.
Memorial contributions may be made to the VNA/Hospice Foundation, 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960.
