Page 53 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 93, No. 2 Winter 2013

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Old Hundred, and rowed with Shattuck’s
first crew. He was known affectionately
as “The Squire” by fellow form members.
Immediately after graduating in 1943,
he was called to active duty by the U.S.
Marine Corps, earning the rank of second
lieutenant before being honorably dis-
charged in 1947. During his time with
the Marines, he corresponded with some
members of the SPS faculty, expressing
gratitude for what St. Paul’s had taught
him and admitting to a bit of culture shock.
Mr. Culver graduated from Princeton
University and then went to work for Chase
Bank in New York City. He returned to
Baltimore and next moved to Boulder
with his wife, Rosalie, in 1961. He founded
Culver Management LLC and became a
successful investor in real estate and the
beef cattle business as well as a director
of the National Bank of Boulder. Together
he and his wife created Boulder Valley
Farm in Lafayette, just outside Boulder.
They also owned a vacation home in
Antigua, West Indies.
In 1998, Mr. Culver and a business part-
ner developed a housing community on
a working cattle ranch in Boulder, an
innovative project that afforded residents
the pastoral setting and experience of
ranching without the responsibilities of
management. As the Culver cattle busi-
ness expanded, Mr. Culver purchased
Owl Creek Ranch, a large tract of land
near Walden in the north central part of
Colorado, where he could graze his herd.
Friends describe Mr. Culver as a man for
all occasions. He loved his cattle and rel-
ished the expansive West with its fields,
mountains, and fresh air, but he was
equally at home in Manhattan with a very
dry martini in his hand (“make it a Grey
Goose please.”) Always immaculately
dressed with a perfect shine on his shoes,
he enjoyed himself wherever he went.
He particularly loved St. Paul’s School
and the lifelong friends he made there.
He attended his form’s 50th anniversary
in 1993 and was looking forward to his
70th reunion in 2013.
Mr. Culver was preceded in death by
his older brother, Robert, who was killed
in World War II while serving with the
Marines. He was also predeceased by his
son, Robert F.M. Culver. He is survived by
his wife of 51 years, Rosalie; his son and
granddaughter, Daniel Brewster Culver
and Daillen Culver; his son, John Kenni-
cott Culver; and his stepsons, Charles C.
Fenwick Jr., H. Bruce Fenwick, Edwin A.
Fenwick, and John G. Fenwick.
1945
Wilmott Harsant “Bin”
Lewis Jr.
of Grantham, N.H., died September 10,
2012, at the age of 85, surrounded by his
loved ones.
Born March 5, 1927, Mr. Lewis, lovingly
known since childhood as “Bin,” was
destined to join the ranks of his family
as one of the newspaper elite. He was
the only child of Sir Wilmott Lewis, the
Washington correspondent for the Times
of London, and Ethel Noyes, daughter of
Associated Press co-founder and presi-
dent Frank B. Noyes, who also served as
president of the Washington Star . Grow-
ing up in Washington, D.C., Mr. Lewis
attended St. Albans, the National Cathe-
dral School for Boys, and was recom-
mended by his teachers wholeheartedly
as “instinctively a gentleman,” treating
“everyone with courtesy and kindness.”
Mr. Lewis arrived at St. Paul’s as a Third
Former in the fall of 1941 and became
active in the Acolyte’s Guild, later acting
as head. He competed in football, base-
ball, track, and basketball for Delphian.
He was a member of the Missionary
Society and the Glee Club and served as
counselor and supervisor in his dorm-
itories. One faculty member referred to
Mr. Lewis in a recommendation to Yale
University as “a boy of high principle
and practice, devout, responsible and
conscientious, admirable in Lower School,
fine citizen.”
Mr. Lewis spent most of his summers
through high school interning at news-
papers, learning whatever he could about
the business. In the summer of 1944, he
wrote to SPS Rector Norman Nash, “I am
working at the Evening Star newspaper
in Washington as a counter clerk. That
consists of selling advertisements, sub-
scriptions, and many other small jobs.
It is an interesting job, as I meet all types
of people.”
Mr. Lewis’s hard work at the Washing-
ton Evening Star paid off. After leaving
Yale to pursue his career in newspaper
production, Mr. Lewis held several posi-
tions during his 25 years at the paper,
including production manager and busi-
ness manager. He also served as director
and vice president of Washington Star
Communications. During his time in Wash-
ington, he married Suzanne Alexander
and they had three children, Alexandra,
Wilmott III, and Brett ’77.
After leaving the newspaper industry
for a short time, Mr. Lewis found he
could not avoid the inevitable and, in
1980, returned to the field to become the
publisher of the Valley News in the Upper
Connecticut River Valley of New Hamp-
shire. A paper desperately seeking a
renewal of sorts, the Valley News was
taken to a new level by Mr. Lewis, who
was known for his forward-thinking and
pioneering spirit. In 13 years, Mr. Lewis
transitioned the Valley News from an
evening paper to a morning paper and
introduced a Sunday edition, while also
bringing the publication to the forefront
of technology. He retired from the Valley
News in 1993.
Outside of his work life, Mr. Lewis found
pleasure in giving back to his communities.
A longtime supporter of St. Paul’s, Mr.
Lewis served as form agent for the Form
of 1945 from 2000 to 2005 and was a mem-
ber of the John Hargate Society.
“He really believed in St. Paul’s and
felt that the most important and life-
long aspects of his education came from
St. Paul’s,” wrote Barbara Jones, his long-
time companion. While in Washington,
Mr. Lewis served on several boards,
including Suburban Hospital and the
American Newspaper Publishers Assoc-
iation. In the Upper Valley, he was active
in Rotary International, served on the
steering committee that started the Insti-
tute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth,
and served as president of the United
Way and Eastman Community Board,
among others.