Sherrerd '52, long-time University trustee, dies at 78

In his 55 years as an alumnus, Jay Sherrerd ’52 never missed a Princeton reunion. Next month, though, alumni returning to Old Nassau won’t see the man who dedicated more than half a century to the institution he loved so much. The former University trustee and director of the Princeton Investment Company (PRINCO) died of a brain tumor on April 9 at his Bryn Mawr, Pa., home. He was 78.

Considered by his peers to be one of the most influential University trustees of the 20th century, Sherrerd was one of the few individuals to sit on the University Board of Trustees for two consecutive 10-year terms, from 1979 to 2000. He served on 22 different committees, and in the last three years of his tenure, he was the vice chair of the Executive Committee.

From 1982 until May 2007, Sherrerd served as a University-appointed trustee of the Robertson Foundation. As volunteer chair of the Foundation’s investment committee, Sherrerd oversaw massive growth in its endowment and faced severe opposition from the Robertson family for leading the effort to have PRINCO manage the Foundation’s assets. Sherrerd was the director of PRINCO from 1987 to 1998.

“I think I can say without question that the three most important things in my life are my family, my job and Princeton,” Sherrerd wrote in a book commemorating the Class of 1952’s 10-year anniversary. A proud Tiger, Sherrerd had a license plate that read: “JAY 52.”

Honoring a request he made one hour before his death, the University marching band played “When the Saints Go Marching In” as mourners left Sherrerd’s memorial service last Saturday at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church.

“Jay Sherrerd’s service to Princeton never ended,” President Tilghman said in an e-mail. “Although his official titles may have changed over the years, his deep and abiding commitment to Princeton was truly enduring. He was truly a Tiger of the Finest Stripe.”

Tilghman, who became an honorary member of the “truly legendary Class of 1952” when she became University president, said she “wore their class jacket at the memorial service with enormous pride, knowing how much it would have pleased Jay to see that sea of orange, black and white stripes in the church.”

Contributions to the University

Well known for his prowess as a fundraiser, Sherrerd was deeply involved in each of Princeton’s three previous capital campaigns, co-chairing the Anniversary Campaign from 1995-2000 in an effort that raised more than $1.14 billion. Hailed as a “non-stop, one-man P-Rade” in publicity for the campaign, Sherrerd logged more miles than anyone else working on the campaign except then-president Harold Shapiro GS ’64.

Always an avid Princeton sports fan, Sherrerd was instrumental in the 1990s in funding the lacrosse stadium, named for his class. Sherrerd also established three scholarships in honor of his classmates and endowed a University professorship in the economics department.

Sherrerd was also a member of the Wythes Committee, which in spring 2000 recommended an 11 percent increase the size of the University’s undergraduate student body.

Guiding the Robertson Foundation

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Sherrerd served on the Robertson Foundation’s board of trustees for 25 years and its three-member investment committee for 30 years. Under his leadership, the Foundation’s endowment grew from $34 million to more than $840 million.

In 1998, Sherrerd and John Beck ’53, the other University-appointed trustee on the committee, expressed concern about the Foundation relying on part-time volunteers to manage what had become an enormous asset pool.

Both Sherrerd and Beck suggested the Foundation have PRINCO manage its assets side by side with the University’s endowment, with continued oversight by the Foundation’s investment committee.

William Robertson ’72, the family’s single representative on the committee, opposed PRINCO’s involvement in the management of the Foundation’s assets. Robertson threatened to sue and did so in July 2002, a few weeks after the Foundation’s board voted to authorize the investment committee’s consideration of outside management of assets. Sherrerd was a defendant in the case.

In November 2003, 18 months after the Robertson family filed the suit, the Foundation’s board of trustees voted 4-3 in favor of giving control of its assets to PRINCO.

Last May, Sherrerd announced that he was stepping down from his involvements with the Foundation. “[Sherrerd’s] tenure to the Robertson Foundation was nothing short of brilliant,” Robertson said at the time, adding that he and Sherrerd have “unfortunately differed somewhat on some of the Foundation issues.”

Always close to home

Born in Philadelphia on March 9, 1930, Sherrerd grew up in Merion, Pa., and attended the Episcopal Academy before moving to and graduating from high school in Pottstown.At the University, Sherrerd concentrated in economics. He served as a first lieutenant in an artillery unit during the Korean War and went on to earn an MBA from the Wharton School. Later, Sherrerd co-founded Miller, Anderson and Sherrerd, a Philadelphia-based investment management firm.

Sherrerd is survived by his son and two daughters, as well as his sister and six grandchildren. His wife, Kathleen Compton Sherrerd, died in 2005.