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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 5, 1996
Contact: Mary Caffrey (609) 258-5748
Donald Worner Griffin, ``Mr. Princeton,'' Dies
Princeton, N.J. -- Donald Worner Griffin, who retired in 1964 after a 30-year career leading Princeton's alumni office, died Feb. 2 in Princeton. He was 95.
Griffin, a member of the Class of 1923, transferred to Princeton in 1920 after spending his freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania. That started an association with Princeton University that would continue for the rest of his life. A plaque in his honor once graced the 1879 Arch, and a bust of Griffin is displayed in the Alumni Council offices in Maclean House.
``Pop was known as Mr. Princeton for two decades,'' said his son, James Griffin, Class of 1955. Even after retiring, Don Griffin kept in touch with the university's presidents and was proud to have known at least one member of every Princeton class dating back to 1858.
President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen said Griffin's ``personal enthusiasm, drive and loyalty, were essential in helping Princeton renew its ties to alumni after World War II.
Griffin was born in Lock Haven, Pa., on January 17, 1901. He attended Tome School, where he was captain of the football team, and trained as a cadet at the Culver Cavalry School. As a Princeton undergraduate, Griffin played center on the Princeton football team, including the 1922 ``Team of Destiny'' that went undefeated. He was president of the Quadrangle Club, active in the Interclub Committee and a member of the Senior Council.
After graduating, Griffin worked in his family's lumber and woodworking business, which fell on hard times during the Depression. He was working for a Philadelphia stockbroker when he got a call from Princeton asking if he would consider working at the university. On January 1, 1935, Griffin became Secretary of the Alumni Council. He noted that he was not a member of the administration; he was an on-campus voice for all alumni. In 1961, he was named General Secretary of the National Alumni Association, and he retained a lifetime membership on the Graduate Council after retiring in 1964.
Griffin pioneered several innovations that strengthened alumni relations. He started Princeton's Personnel Index, which became an integral part of Personnel Services under the name Alumni Appointments Office. He edited and published the Princeton Alumni Directory and at one time was Princeton's film editor. His office also coordinated all Alumni Day programs.
Students also benefited from Griffin's service. From 1940 until 1942, he chaired the Central Committee on Undergraduate Clubs, which helped revise class election procedures and ensured that every sophomore would have a chance to join an eating club. Before joining the Alumni Council, Griffin returned to Princeton several times in the late 1920s to help coach the freshman football team. The Donald W. Griffin Football scholarship is still awarded today.
Freshmen were special to Griffin. ``He was especially concerned with helping freshmen integrate themselves into the community,'' James Griffin recalled. For 30 years, he took a member of the freshman class to breakfast each week. Those freshmen later became his alumni contacts.
Griffin once said that he did not have a career. Instead, he had two hobbies - Princeton and the military. In 1925, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania National Guard and retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force in 1961. During World War II, he served in several administrative posts, concluding his active duty as chief of the Hospital Liaison Division of the Army Air Force, which was responsible for all sick and wounded Air Force personnel in the United States. For many years, Griffin directed Memorial Day activities in Princeton Borough.
Goheen also served in the war after graduating from Princeton in 1940. In the years that followed, Goheen said, Griffin's leadership on campus was essential in bringing alumni back together. ``We'd all been far away and concerned with other things,'' Goheen said. ``Don worked very hard, and very successfully, to revitalize the ties to the alumni clubs and classes.''
After retiring from Princeton in 1964, Griffin served as the senior counselor at Culver Black Horse Troop Summer School from 1965 until 1971. He was executive secretary for the Independent Schools Association of the Central States.
Griffin said he was born in the horse and buggy era,'' and often drove across campus in horse-drawn vehicles, which he collected and stored on campus for many years. His surrey with the fringe on top, was well-known to alumni. But at a party in honor of his retirement, Griffin and his wife, Helen, happily accepted a brand-new station wagon. They drove it home, leaving behind their car which had logged 103,000 miles on visits to alumni centers.
Helen Quigley Griffin preceded her husband in death in February 1979. Their son, James, lives in Hopewell, N.J. Griffin is survived by three granddaughters: Barbara Griffin Cole, Class of 1982, Cynthia Griffin Ferris, Class of 1986, and Sarah Griffin Thompson. Griffin is also survived by two great-grandchildren, James Griffin Cole and Barbara Loring Satterlee Cole.
A service in the University Chapel is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. Burial will be private.