Necrology

Philip Axel Litchfield '39

Oct. 22, 1915-Apr. 21, 2005

Philip Axel Litchfield ’39, a professional photographer and avid outdoorsman, was born on October 22, 1915, in Brooklyn, NY. He was a son of Bayard S., who managed his family’s extensive real estate holdings, especially in the Adirondacks, and Marguerite Berg Litchfield. His great-grandfather was Edwin Clark Litchfield, Class of 1832, a railroad president and one of the early benefactors of the College who endowed Litchfield Observatory as well as the professorship held at Hamilton by the internationally renowned astronomer Christian H. F. Peters. Phil Litchfield prepared for college at the Romford School in Connecticut and entered Hamilton in 1935 from Katonah, NY. He left the Hill in the spring of his freshman year and spent the succeeding year at Iowa State College (now University).

Phil Litchfield soldiered in the U.S. Army from 1941 until he was medically discharged in 1943. He subsequently volunteered for the American Field Service, became an ambulance driver attached to British forces in Italy toward the end of World War II, and was cited for distinguished service by the British government. After the war he took up portrait photography professionally and later joined the staff of The Patent Trader of Mt. Kisco, NY, as the newspaper’s first full-time photographer. He was also on the boards of directors of his family’s real estate companies.

In addition to great affection for exotic sports cars, which he collected, Phil Litchfield had a passion for outdoor activities. Besides golfing while at his winter home in Vero Beach, FL, he took great delight in hosting hunting and fishing expeditions for family and friends from his beloved summer home in the Adirondacks.

Long ill, Philip A. Litchfield died on April 21, 2005, in Vero Beach, in his 90th year. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, the former Sarah Richardson Hamill. Also surviving are two sons, Christopher S. ’72 and Eric H. Litchfield, born of his first marriage, in 1949, to Isabel Crouse; a stepson and stepdaughter, Robert B. Hamill ’84 and Amelia H. Hopkins, married to Timothy B. Hopkins ’84; and eight grandchildren and a sister.

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