News from
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301Contact: Justin Harmon (609) 258-1301
January 18, 2000
Journalist, Playwright William McCleery Dies in Princeton
PRINCETON, N.J. -- William Thomas McCleery, 88, of Princeton, died January 16 at the Medical Center at Princeton.
Mr. McCleery was a playwright, editor and journalist whose career included the authorship of two Broadway plays; editorial positions with Hearst Newspapers, the Associated Press, Life magazine, the World War II newspaper P.M., and the Ladies Home Journal.
At Princeton University, where he served from 1963 to 1997, he was the founding editor of University: A Princeton Quarterly; edited the papers of Princeton President Robert F. Goheen into the book The Human Nature of a University (1969); and compiled the volumes Conversations on the Character of Princeton (1986) and Wit and Eloquence of Woodrow Wilson, Teacher (1996). His book, The Story of a Campaign for Princeton 1981-1986, is required reading for academic fundraisers. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Princeton's McCarter Theatre and as a trustee of the Daily Princetonian.
As a Broadway dramatist, McCleery's Hope for the Best debuted in 1945, starring Franchot Tone and Jane Wyatt, followed by Parlor Story with Walter Abel. A Play for Mary, to star long-time friend Helen Hayes and her daughter, Mary MacArthur, was Broadway-bound when Ms. MacArthur succumbed suddenly to polio. Miss Hayes later starred in McCleery's adaptation of Francis Grey Patton's Good Morning, Miss Dove.
In the era of live dramatic television, McCleery wrote a dozen one-hour plays for such stars as Cornelia Otis Skinner, Rosalind Russell, Hume Cronyn, Nanette Fabray, Sarah Churchill and Elaine Stritch. Several of his plays, including an adaptation of the Peter DeVries novel A Mackeral Plaza, are regularly performed by high schools, colleges, and amateur theatrical groups around the country.
A children's book, Wolf Story, written in 1947, remains in distribution today, and has been called the New York Times Book Review "a little work of art" which "has to last forever." It is published by the Shoestring Press.
Mr. McCleery was well known to Princeton area residents as theater reviewer for the Town Topics, a post he held for 28 years until retiring from the publication in 1998.
A native of Hastings, Neb., Mr. McCleery graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1931.
Mr. McCleery is survived by a son, Michael, of Branford, Conn.; a son Samuel, of Hopewell, N.J.; five grandchildren; and his companion, Helen Wilmerding. His wife, Anne R. McCleery, died in 1989.
A memorial service will be held at the Princeton University Chapel January 22 at 11:00 a.m., to be followed by a reception at the Prospect House.
Donations may be made to the Princeton Junior School, with which he had a long affiliation and friendship.
NOTE TO EDITORS: A portrait of William McCleery can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/l-r/mccleery/.