ROBERT KINGSTON

KINGSTON--Robert J.,

who served as deputy director and later acting director of the National Endowment for the Humanities under presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter, died August 20 in Mill Neck, Long Island, New York at the age of 87. Kingston joined NEH in 1969 as director of planning and policy analysis, rising to become deputy chairman and serve as acting chairman from January 1977 to October 1977. He left NEH in 1978 to become president of the College Board. From 1982 until 1987, Kingston was the executive director of Public Agenda, the New York public opinion research organization. In 1981, Kingston joined the Kettering Foundation, a research organization headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, as a senior associate. He remained in that position until his death. Kingston, a resident of Mill Neck, New York, was born January 12, 1929 in London, England. He served in the British Army of Occupation in Germany after WWII, and after his service graduated with first class honors from Oxford University, where he studied English literature. Kingston came to the United States in 1954. Kingston's first wife, Edith, died in 1987. In 1991, he married the artist Carol Vollet, who survives him, as do his two daughters, Victoria Richard and Alexandra Stevens, and five grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be held on Long Island in October.