Douglas A. Dial

Douglas A. Dial, born May 26, 1936, Cincinnati, Ohio; died September 3, 2022, Ridgewood, New Jersey
As the son of an Army officer, he lived in Ohio, Georgia, New York, California, Japan and Alaska, attending three elementary and four high schools. (Academic peak: 1948 Chattahoochee County, GA spelling bee winner.)
He won an NROTC scholarship to Yale University, from which he graduated in 1957. During a midshipman training cruise in 1954, he served on the USS Missouri, the battleship that hosted Japan's surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay in August 1945. After receiving his commission, he served three years aboard the USS Richard B. Anderson, a Pacific Fleet destroyer, which included two deployments to the western Pacific, and an additional five years in the Naval Reserve.
After completing military service, he attended Harvard Business School, receiving an MBA in 1962.
He began work as a stock analyst at Dean Witter & Co. in NYC, becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst. In 1967 he moved to C. J. Lawrence, an institutional research boutique, ·becoming a partner in 1971. In 1978 joined Equitable life as equity research manager and later became chief investment officer of Calvin Bullock, Ltd., a mutual fund company acquired by Equitable. From 1987 to 2001, he was employed by the College Retirement Equities Fund, a division of TlAA­ CREF, retiring as a Senior Managing Director and manager of the largest private pension fund in the world.
Mr. Dial was engaged in several community service activities in Wyckoff, NJ, where he lived since 1964. These included service on the Board of Education, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and the Planning Board. He was elected to three three-year terms on the Township Committee, serving one year as Mayor during each of these three terms. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the Saddle River Country Day School. Among his less successful volunteer efforts were his stints as his older son's Little League baseball coach.
He is survived by his wife Trudi, sons Rob, of Ho-Ho-Kus, and Jamie of Lawrenceville, their wives, Lesley and Beth, his brother Bill of Carpinteria, California, and his four grandchildren: Ryder, Cameron, Cecilia and Ellie.
The Dial family will receive family and friends at the Vander Plaat Funeral Home, 257 Godwin Avenue, Wyckoff, on Friday, September 9, 3:00 until 6:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, it was Mr. Dial's wish that we consider supporting the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale, 234 Church St., 7th"Floor-,New Haven, CT 06510 (www.buckleyprogram.com), or the Yale Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, P.O. Box 208355, New Haven, CT 06520.
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