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Donaldson C. Pillsbury

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Nightingale-Bamford School

Donaldson Pillsbury Obituary

PILLSBURY--Donaldson C. The Trustees of Robert College of Istanbul deeply mourn the sudden death of a fellow Trustee. We are grateful for his service, wisdom and friendship, and will feel the loss of his presence. We offer our heartfelt sympathy to his wife Marnie and their family.

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Published by New York Times from Jun. 14 to Jun. 15, 2008.

Memories and Condolences
for Donaldson Pillsbury

28 Entries

Thao Nguyen

June 29, 2008

Dear Blair,
I was so sorry to hear of your loss. Please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
Thao Nguyen

Robert G. Oliver

June 28, 2008

Barbara and I extend our deepest sympathies to the family for the sudden loss of Don. As classsmates in Branford and during our post graduation years, I have geatly valued my contacts with Don for Yale and class activities. Don was always a warm, wise and very humane leader and friend. As in all his endeavors Don enriched the fellowship of the class of 1962 by his leadership and dedication.

Bob and Barbara Oliver

Michael Joy

June 24, 2008

Dear Marnie, I was so sorry to hear of Don's death. One never knows what is around the corner. I DO KNOW that heaven is a better place with Don & Jim up there...with my love to you & the kids - Michael Joy

James Fox

June 24, 2008

To Don’s Family

I received word of Don’s death while I was in Jakarta and only now have I the chance to express my feelings of loss. Don was an old friend and, as one ages, such dear friends seem ever more important. Memories grow stronger.

Don will always be part of my memories of Oxford. We were a curious group together on Magpie Lane at the back end of University College – Don, Grant Thompson and Nick Meyrick. We had great times together. One memory that recurs is of our drive to London for a Ray Charles concert.

In Oxford, I met my wife, Irmgard, and was married there on a beautiful day in May. Don was there to counsel me, offer support and even provide the studs for the shirt I was married in!

We kept in touch when we returned to the States but saw little of each other after the family moved to Australia. We did, however, catch up when Irmgard and I visited New York. Our tour of Sotheby’s with Don and our lunch together is another fond memory, as indeed is our last meeting when he picked me up at my son’s house in Old Greenwich in his mini-Smart car and took me home for a good gossip.

I add these words, for what they are worth, as a short farewell for a wonderful old friend.

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Matthew Anderson

June 23, 2008

Marnie, Don, Blair, and Wendy:

My thoughts are with you.

Matthew Anderson

Kirkpatrick MacDonald

June 20, 2008

I am deeply saddened by the sudden loss of my friend, fraternity brother and best man. Never lacking a smile, Don brightened every place he graced with his presence or participation. His positive attitude about life will stand as an example for us all.

Eddie Rogers

June 19, 2008

Dear Marnie,

I was desolated to hear of Don's tragic and untimely passing. He was a good friend, with whom I shared many memories and experiences. I will miss him very much.

Walter Foulke

June 19, 2008

Don Pillsbury
September 14, 1940
June 12, 2008

Let me try to recall some small parts of the extraordinary life of this man who meant so much to all of us.

The absolute center of Don’s existence was his partnership with his wife, Marnie. We weep that their union has been dissolved by death, a death very hard to accept - an early and unexpected death, but fortunately for Don a peaceful death. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be at Don and Marnie’s wedding could see the special character of this unique couple from the start. Those who met them at some later point on their fabulous journey together were always struck by their unfailing civility, their complimentary senses of humor, their native inquisitiveness, their mutual love of art and all things beautiful and their respectful intellectual sword-play. Their adventures together particularly in Europe but also in many different places around the world made them familiar figures to friends on several continents. But they were happiest right here in the United States, in New York, in Connecticut, in Wyoming.

Over arching everything else, was their intense love for their children Don, Blair and Wendy. As all caring parents they wanted the best for their children, but, I believe, more than most they recognized that the world was a different place for their children than it had been for them. They respected each child’s individuality and realized that humans are different and that one size does not fit all. I wish we all could be so wise.

Don was the embodiment of that old Latin maxim more quoted in the generation before ours but nevertheless influential in out early schooling together at Saint Paul’s: Mens sana in corpore sano –a sound mind in a sound body. Don was good student and a fine natural athlete. His razor sharp mind served him well in college, law school and his later careers at Davis Polk and Sotheby’s. His athletic ability allowed him to be an outstanding ice hockey player and rower in his school years and later an accomplished skier, hiker and biker, but like so many other good athletes excellence in golf eluded him. Even this most patient man was pushed past patience after three shots in a sand trap or two in a flower bed in Bermuda.

Don was interested in everything. For him the world was an endless source of fascination and wonder. Tid-bits from the New York Times would often send him off into a further investigation and discussion of some aspect of music, art, some arcane science, or even the mechanical world. I once spent almost every waking hour over two days with Don disassembling an old inoperative gas pump that came with the Stanford house originally bought for weekends in the country. Our wives complained all this particular weekend that they were “grease monkey widows.” After putting the pump all back together there was a fairly large part left over which is always a bad sign. Apparently this odd piece was part of the complex mechanical linkage that permits a varying price to be charged for the same volumes of gasoline. Well, never mind, what the heck, no one was going to actually buy gas from this pump and we did get it to work and spout gas all over the driveway. Then from the kitchen, “Call it off boys –call it off.” OK, OK we do have to go to work on Monday. As a postscript I note that all our efforts ultimately came to naught as the pump and tank had to be removed when it was recognized that both were part of a potential environmental nightmare.

Sailing, ballooning, skiing, ping pong, bowling and horseshoes you name it, Don would try it. Looking ridiculous made no difference to Don. In fact one of his most endearing qualities was that wonderful spontaneous ability to laugh at himself. Some of his best laughs were at his own expense. We have all seen Don in paroxysms of laughter when he was the butt of his own joke! Some of you may recall Don telling the tale of the new station wagon that Marnie never saw. Coming directly from the car dealer Don was rushing to a meeting downtown and mistakenly entrusted the new car to one of New York’s slickest “parking attendants” outside a garage with a long line of cars. The man gave him a receipt for the car and then promptly drove off! Bye, bye new car.

As everyone knows, Don loved a good meal with good company and a good bottle of wine. There were times when sitting around the fire after dinner, Don’s eyes would close and the inexperienced would assume that he was asleep. No! Suddenly without warning he would interject a comment, before lapsing into semi-dormancy for another ten minutes. What a hoot! We would all roar with laughter.

But was there anyone whose counsel you would rather seek out if you had a serious problem ? No. Don was a counselor in the best sense of the word. His integrity was without question; his promise of confidentiality unbreakable. If you came to him with a problem, he would listen carefully, perhaps help you reframe the issue and then give you his best judgment based in what he thought was fair and right and it was inevitably on the mark. He could be helpful with out making one feel foolish. He could apply his fine analytic mind to a critical issue without being personally critical of the proponent.

Don was so much fun to be with that his company was much sought after. Time was the limiting factor for all his friends. Fortunate are those of us who did get to share some time with him. So treasure the memory of our times together with this remarkable man. We wish we could have spent more. Because of Don, the world has been a better place for us and if we are fortunate enough to go to another world he will surely make that a better place for us as well.

Walter Foulke

David W Babington

June 19, 2008

It was sad to read of Don' s passing. A person with an active and interesting live. My best to his family. I have an obsure family connection to Don through a relationship to WBWB.

Mopsy Lovejoy

June 19, 2008

Dear Marnie,

I'm so terribly sad to hear that Don is gone. My deepest sympathy to you and to all the family.

Love, Mopsy (Seymour) Lovejoy

Glen Joseph

June 19, 2008

Dear Pilsbury,

My heart felt condolence.

May his soul rest in peace.

Best Regards

Glen Francis Joseph

June 18, 2008

Blair-
My deepest sympathies to you and your family.
Marci Bleichmar

Muffin Lord

June 18, 2008

Dear Marnie --
This is such a sad way to be in touch with you after all these years, but I wanted to say you are in my heart and prayers --
Love,
Muffin (Lord)

June 17, 2008

Marnie, Don, Blair and Wendy:

We were so saddened to hear this tragic news last week. We are thinking of all of you during this difficult time.

All our love,

Justin and the Smiths from Paris

Dean Harold Hongju Koh, Yale Law School

June 17, 2008

Everyone at the Yale Law School sends their deepest condolences on this stunning loss. Only a few weeks ago, I saw Don at a Yale Law School event and we spoke of him coming up to New Haven to give a talk this fall. I cannot believe he is gone. What a great man and lawyer he was.

Will Muecke

June 17, 2008

Blair and family:

I was so sorry to hear of your loss. I want you to know that our thoughts are with you as you go through this very difficult time. Best wishes and love to you all.

Warmest regards,

Will Muecke and Diane Feeney

Julia McCaughey

June 17, 2008

Marnie, Don, Blair & Wendy-
You are all in my thoughts. There are no words for the shock and sadness I feel. What a wonderful man that has left us. I have such a clear memory of his laugh and smile.
All our love. Julia K McCaughey & Family

Paola Pena

June 16, 2008

I am very sorry for your loss. I heard many great things about Don from my mother, Adriana, and I sympathize your pain. One of his greatest assets my mother told me was that he never lied and abhorred the idea of it. I believe he left this Earth very happily with everything your whole family has provided him, especially love. He is now in a blessed place and there is no need to worry about him. Once again I would like to offer you my sympathy and pray that you may continue the life God still has to offer.

Barbara Kiker

June 16, 2008

Marnie,
You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
With love, Aunt Barbara Childs
Amy Childs Smith
Kathy Childs
Barbara Childs Kiker

Eric Carlson

June 16, 2008

I mourn the loss of a college classmate, fraternity brother, and friend. Those moments when I saw Don in New York or Minneapolis, at museums or art exhibitions, were always a pleasure. I send my sincerest condolences to Marnie and the Pillsbury family.

Monica Thomas-Bonnick

June 16, 2008

I was saddened to hear about the sudden passing of Mr. Pillsbury. Marnie, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. With deepest sympathy, Monica Thomas-Bonnick (DR Fellow, Class of 2001)

Bob & Ann Jose

June 16, 2008

We were so saddened to hear of Don's sudden passing. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Marnie and the entire Pillsbury and Jose family.

Margie Stineman

June 16, 2008

The Pillsbury Family is in my thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time. Sending all my love and sympathies.

Sarah Adair

June 15, 2008

My thoughts are prayers go out to Marnie and family.
He was such a lovely man and a pleasure to do work for.

Bruni Mayr

June 15, 2008

My heartfelt sympathies to the Pillsbury Family

Jim O'Shaughnessy

June 14, 2008

When I joined the board of the Chamber Music Society, Don and Marnie made my wife, Melissa, and I feel instantly welcomed. Words cannot express our distress at Don’s untimely death. His warmth, humor, erudition and love of music were absolutely infectious. Don and Marnie always made us feel as if we were old friends and part of the CMS family, and we will sorely miss him. We offer our thoughts and prayers to Don’s family over his loss. We will miss him very, very much.

Chris Tearse

June 14, 2008

My deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the Pillsbury family.

Tad Jose

June 14, 2008

Don spoke at my fathers funeral and read 'Gone from My Sight' by Henry Van Dyke just this past February. Don and Marnie graciously sponsored the dinner afterwards. Besides from being a man of high intellect and moral character, I am honored to know such a personable and interesting person.

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