Deceased October 19, 2013

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In Memory

Ken Sayle, my Phi Psi brother and dear friend, passed away on Oct. 19, 2013. The call from his wife, Susie, was not unexpected, as Ken suffered for much of his adult life from severe physical consequences of juvenile diabetes, which in recent years had become more pronounced.

Notwithstanding his physical ailments and the emotional toll they sometimes took, Ken’s personal and business life flourished. His relationship with Susie (Connecticut College ’71) and his two beautiful children, Amanda and Jordan, was profoundly loving, and his commercial real estate business in Westchester County, N.Y., consistently prospered.

Ken is fondly remembered by many classmates as “a real good egg.” He was Phi Psi’s entrepreneurial “housemother,” handling the finances and janitorial duties, organizing the nightly poker game and always looking for things to sell or invest in. He would shake his head in dismay at our psychedelic shenanigans, but on Sunday nights would rally us all to join him around the TV for Mission Impossible.

Susie (Sackheim), his childhood sweetheart, was on campus by Ken’s side most every weekend. For this tribute, she shared with us vivid recollections of those years with Ken at Amherst—hikes up the Notch, apple picking at Atkins Farm and preparing a veal parm and spaghetti dinner for a few Phi Psi guests in his room, using a two-burner hot plate.

Ken’s most memorable post-Amherst contribution to the class was his remarks at our 30th reunion (in 2000) in a session featuring classmates with life-changing disabilities. We were all deeply moved by his courage and personal resilience in facing unimaginably daunting life circumstances.

After Ken’s funeral, family and friends fressed authentic NYC deli food Susie served up at the house. How fitting. It brought me back to 1968–69, side-by-side with Ken in the basement of Phi Psi, making corned beef sandwiches for customers at the coffee house he and I co-founded and co-managed.

L’chaim!

Burt Woolf ’70