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G r A D u A T e N e W SWilliam “Hart” Perry ’51 died on February3, 2011, after a brief illness. He is survivedby his wife, Gillian; his five children, William,Theodore, Alissa Gumprecht, Alexandra Millsand Colin; and 12 grandchildren. Perry wasborn in Newton in 1933 and came to Noblesin Class V. He was a terrific three-sport athletewhose skill and “undying spirit” made him anasset to the soccer and hockey teams. It wasalso at Nobles that he was introduced to thesport of rowing, leading to a lifetime of “passionand dedication that would touch thousandsof lives beyond his own.”After Nobles, Perry attended DartmouthCollege and then joined the faculty of KentSchool for more than 40 years. He leaves atremendous legacy within the rowing community.Throughout his life, Perry held numerouscoaching positions at Dartmouth, Kent Schooland the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, amongothers. He also worked as an official at numerousworld championships, including the WorldRowing Championships, the Olympic Games,and, in 1974, he became the first non-Britishcitizen to be elected a steward of the HenleyRoyal Regatta. He served as the president ofthe National Association of Amateur Oarsmen(predecessor to USRowing) and was the ExecutiveDirector of the National Rowing Association.Perry received numerous honors throughouthis career, including the U.S. Rowing Medal ofHonor, the 2010 World Rowing DistinguishedService to Rowing Award, and induction intothe National Rowing Hall of Fame.David Perry ’59 died peacefully on January23, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif., after a longbattle with cancer. Perry was born in 1940 andgrew up in Dedham. He attended Dexter Schoolwith a number of his soon-to-be Nobles classmatesand lifelong friends, including the lateEdward Bond ’58, Whitford “Whit” Bond’59, Richard “Dick” Frazee ’59 and William“Bill” Frederick ’59. At Nobles, he playedsoccer and tennis; was a member of the Debatingand Dramatics Club; and was on theNobleman Board. After Nobles, Perry attendedAmherst College and then Law School atBerkeley. Ultimately, he settled in San Franciscoand worked at Kaiser for many years beforebecoming their General Counsel.His classmates write that, “Dave was veryloyal to his Nobles classmates, attending mostReunions and quietly sponsoring many classevents. His kind and gentle approach to lifewill be sorely missed. Our 50th Class Reunionin 2009 was one of Dave’s happiest memoriesas well as the trip in 2007 to France that heenjoyed with several classmates in Strasbourgand Paris. It was on this trip that he hostedone of our most memorable dinners.”John Warren ’64 died at his home in Natickon February 6, 2011. He was born in Boston andgrew up in Dedham. Warren spent six years atNobles, where he was a member of DeutscherVerein and the Dramatic Club. He attendedHarvard College and then pursued his studiesof German language and literature at theGerman for Foreigners Institute in Munichand at the University of Indiana.Warren’s lifelong vocation and talent was inmusic, beginning in his childhood with the studyof piano. In the 1964 yearbook, his classmatesnoted that he would be “best remembered forhis diverting performances on (and off) themusic room piano.” Later, he studied compositionwith Herman Weiss and composed numerouspieces, including string quartets, pianosonatas, symphonies, concerti and other chambermusic. Warren leaves his sisters, Janet Rogersand Constance Mery; his brother Richard; andnumerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces andgreat-nephews.Kim Smith; An AppreciationKim Smith, longtime business manager atNoble and Greenough, died at his home inConcord, Mass., this winter. We asked formerHead of School Dick Baker to share hismemories of Smith.Kim Smith was one of those individuals whocame across as larger than life—an ebullienceof humor, a stentorian voice, a directness in hisapproach to almost everything and an inspirationalgenerosity of spirit. While forceful whenit was necessary, his personality was gearedmore to tact and diplomacy, listening carefullyand drawing others out. Optimism was hishallmark, and he sprinkled it liberally in allaspects of his life.He was a man of independent schools,possessed of an eclectic resume that spannedthe full range from teacher/coach to headmasterwith lots of administrative experiencein between. He came to Nobles as somethingof a knight in shining armor prepared to rescuethe school after a particularly devastatingadministrative loss. Ben Lawson, the venerableBusiness Manager for decades, who had superblyguided the school financially for decades, hadretired in spring 1979. An able replacementlasted only a few months and then decidedthe job was not to his liking. He departedimmediately. Headmaster Ted Gleason drewon an old friendship, asking Kim to becomethe Business Manager (Kim had probablyplanned a few gentle years of retirement afterserving as the Head of Fenn for nearly a decade.)But, he rode in, took control and at least inthe years of the late ’80s and early ’90s, wasthe primary force for upgrading the entireinstitutional infrastructure. He was, in a sense,the architect for much of the school thatexists today.In 1987, he must have an almost overwhelmingsense of increased responsibility when thetried (Gleason) was replaced by the untried(Baker). I often wondered whether he askedhimself, “do I have enough still in me tobreak in a new Head?”He did and he did, and I was always thewiser for his counsel.The image of the knight whose role was alwaysslanted toward rescue was reinforced by Kim’smost magical innovation, a kind of alchemicaltransmutation of base metal into gold. At momentswhen decisions about the constructionof new buildings teetered on the knife-edgeof the achievement of the Development Officeand time pressure was acute, Kim always founda financial way to resolution. And, because ofhim and his replacement, Bill Chamberlin,the buildings went up—one, two, three, four,five. No single person was as responsible forthat architectural transformation as Kim Smith.And, to take that transformation one stepfurther, the school’s identity, its psyche, differstoday because of what Kim accomplished. AsChurchill once said, “We shape buildings andthen our buildings shape us.” In a sense Kimis still “shaping us.”His final years must have been difficult. He lostthe power of his legs in his later years becauseof a youthful skiing accident and finally wasconfined to a wheelchair. But if the word “indomitable”deserves application to any humanbeing, I think Kim qualifies. Nobles owes himprodigious applause.—Dick Baker62 l the NobLES Bulletin l Spring 2011