55
1956
Yale Kneeland III
of Hadlyme, Conn., died suddenly on
August 25, 2014. He was 76.
Mr. Kneeland was born on December 30,
1937, to Dr. Yale Kneeland Jr. and Mrs.
Deborah Dyer Kneeland of New York,
and attended St. Bernard’s School in
New York City before entering St. Paul’s
School as a First Former.
Mr. Kneeland was athletic and adven-
turous, a strong boy who rose to a posi-
tion of respect and leadership at the
School. He played SPS and Old Hundred
football, captaining the club team in 1955.
He rowed for the first Halcyon crew and
captained the SPS boxing team, earning
the Hart Boxing Belt title in 1955 and 1956.
Mr. Kneeland served as vice president
of the Athletic Association, treasurer of
the Scientific Association, and a member
of the Missionary Society and the Library
Association.
Mr. Kneeland went on to Yale, where he
rowed with the varsity lightweight crew
and played polo. After graduating in 1963
with a B.A. in history, he served in the
U.S. Army and was stationed in Hawaii.
He became an accomplished surfer during
his tour of duty. Mr. Kneeland was also a
member of the Millbrook fox hunt and,
after his discharge from the Army, worked
as a cowboy on a cattle ranch in Arizona.
He later earned his M.B.A. from Columbia
University and worked for several years
as a banker before changing course to
become a professional race car driver,
which deepened his lifelong love for cars
and driving.
1962
Peter Caldwell Wylie
a retired JAG
Corps captain,
who devoted his
career to the
service of his
country and his
family, died on
June 26, 2014, in
Alexandria,
Virginia, after a
period of declining health. He was 69.
Born March 15, 1945, in Summit, N.J.,
to the late Rear Admiral Joseph Caldwell
Wylie and Harriette Bahney “Bonnie”
Wylie, Captain Wylie spent his childhood
moving frequently for his father’s career.
In retirement, Rear Admiral Wylie served
as one of the founders of the USS
Consti-
tution
Museum at Charlestown, Mass.
Captain Wylie found academic stability
and lifelong friends in his St. Paul’s years,
entering the School as a Third Former in
the fall of 1958. While at St. Paul’s, he par-
ticipated in numerous activities, including
the Concordian Literary Society, the Cum
Laude Society, Glee Club, and the Mathe-
matics Team. He played soccer for Isthmian
and enjoyed rowing and squash as well.
He served as president of the Rifle Club.
As a member of the Spanish club, La
Junta, he won first prize in the 1961
Spoken Spanish Contest.
Captain Wylie, who graduated from
Princeton in 1966 and earned his law
degree from the University of Virginia
in 1969. He was honored with the Bronze
Star with combat “V” for his service in
Vietnam. His love for the sea and his de-
votion to the sailors he counseled made
Captain Wylie a natural for the Navy JAG
Corps. Captain Wylie married Lieutenant
Commander Carolina Clair in December
of 1975, while she was a student at the
Naval War College in Rhode Island. The
couple raised two children, Peter Jr. and
Jamie Elizabeth.
In the mid-1970s, Mr. Kneeland dis-
covered a way to combine two of his pas-
sions – art and tools, when he became an
art conservator. He studied conservation
at New York University’s Institute of Fine
Arts and went to work in the Objects
Conservation Department at the Metro-
politan Museum of Art, where he served
from 1976 to 2008. One of his early im-
portant assignments at the museum was
to curate the famous collection from the
tomb of King Tutankhamun while it toured
the United States. Mr. Kneeland was highly
regarded within the Metropolitan Museum
and by conservation departments around
the world. Toward the end of his life, he
served as a trustee at the Florence Griswold
Museum in Old Lyme, Conn.
The diversity of his experiences and his
wide-ranging friendships bear testament
to the fact that Mr. Kneeland – more than
most of us – lived life as he wanted. He
was smart, direct, affable, warm, and
funny. He could adapt to any situation
and embraced people for who they were.
He made friends with everyone he met, in
every sphere of his life, and his happiness
was infectious.
Mr. Kneeland was loved deeply by his
family, which extended from the U.S. to
Australia. He is survived by his wife, Judy
Cotton, their son, Timothy Cotton ’81, and
his granddaughter, Juliette, whom he was
able to welcome into the world last sum-
mer. A memorial service to celebrate Yale
Kneeland’s life is planned for Thursday,
January 15, 2015, at 5:30 p.m. at the Yale
Club, 50 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y.
