OBITUARIES

Class Notes

DISPATCHES NEWS FROM ALUMNI

Obituaries

Former Trustee Frederick Brewster Whittemore ’49

Frederick Brewster Whittemore passed away on May 30, 2022, following a lengthy illness. He was 91.

Born and raised in Pembroke, New Hampshire, Whittemore enrolled for a postgraduate year at KUA, where he was involved in debate and Student Council and competed in j.v. football, basketball, and tennis. He then earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth and an M.B.A. from its Tuck School of Business.

Following graduate studies at Oxford University and service in the Navy, Whittemore began a noteworthy career with Morgan Stanley & Co. in 1958. He rose to partner in 1967 and managing director in 1970, and his clients included the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand as well as many large corporations. He also served as a board member of the Aspen Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, international president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, vice chair of the American Stock Exchange, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Whittemore’s support of education is legendary. As his father before him, Whittemore served as trustee of KUA, a responsibility he held from 1976 to 1980. During his tenure, the Academy completed its first capital campaign, an effort he spearheaded as a member of the

 Whittemore walks in a KUA graduation ceremony to the left of Head of School Thomas Mikula. Campaign Executive Committee. He also held the role of Trustee Emeritus. He continued to serve KUA as chair of its newly formed National Advisory Council. KUA’s Whittemore Athletic Center was named after him and dedicated in December 1988. The University of New Hampshire (UNH) Whittemore Center is also named after him, and he was a founding director of the UNH Foundation and honorary co-chair of its capital campaign. At the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics, founded in 1962 and named for his father, Whittemore served as executive director and regularly hosted a group of M.B.A. students at his offices in New York City as part of the school’s Wall Street residency program. In his “retirement,” Whittemore continued to serve as mentor to those who sought his advice.

He was predeceased by his wife of 51 years, Marion. He is survived by sons Laurence III and Edward and their wives and five grandchildren..

Earl E. Devaney ’66

Earl E. Devaney, one of the U.S. government’s most aggressive internal watchdogs, died April 15, 2022, of complications following a heart attack. He was 74.

He was born June 8, 1947, in Reading, Massachusetts, and after graduating from KUA competed as an offensive lineman while earning a bachelor’s in government at Franklin & Marshall College. He began his career as a Secret Service agent, guarding Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and developing his investigative talents with the financial crimes unit.

In 1991 he moved over to the Environmental Protection Agency, where he led the criminal investigation unit before becoming the Interior Department’s inspector general from 1999 to 2009. There, he led efforts that helped uncover neglect and wrongdoing throughout the department, ranging from

appalling conditions in tribal jails operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to drug use, sexual encounters, and the influence-peddling and tax evasion schemes of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. “If you want to be popular, the IG job is not the one to have,” Devaney told National Journal in 2007. “Every day someone is going to be mad at you. The trick is to come to work in the morning and not be a poodle or a Doberman pinscher, but to strike a balance.”

When Devaney prepared to retire in 2009, he was invited to a meeting with then Vice President Joe Biden to discuss monitoring the financial recovery program that was at the heart of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Biden escorted Devaney into the Oval Office, where President Barack Obama asked him to lead the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. Devaney took on this final challenge of curbing waste in the roughly $800 billion federal aid package. Helped by other inspectors general and a staff of about 40, Devaney adopted analytical tools from law enforcement and intelligence agencies to develop a comprehensive database that accounted for every dollar spent in the recovery act—still considered one of the federal government’s boldest steps toward transparency.

He retired from federal service in 2011 and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Judith; sons Matthew and Michael; and five grandchildren.

Deaths

Richard Aitson ‘73 Clinton A. Bean ’63 Richard F. Carolan ’54 Paul T. Cullman ’43 Earl E. Devaney ’66 Justin D. Good ’01 William R. Palmer ’45 John H. Per-Lee ’47

Paul Cullman ’43 passed away in 2021, leaving behind a quiet but powerful legacy at Kimball Union. As a student, Cullman was involved in various activities, including Debate Club, Dramatic Club, and the Boy Scouts. Cullman departed prior to his graduation in March 1943 to join the Air Corps, where he served until 1946. He went on to graduate from Colorado College, began his career as a crop duster, and never gave up his love of flying and aviation. Following college Paul remained out west, living most recently in Ferndale, Washington.  Cullman is front row, second from left. Taken in 1941.

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