Deceased August 7, 2015

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50th Reunion Book Entry

In Memory

Lou DeSanti, our class president and secretary, passed away peacefully on Aug. 7. Lou loved life and gave of his time and energy to help others personally and professionally. He was valedictorian of his high school class and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst before obtaining a Ph.D. in international relations from Columbia University.

Lou served 39 months in U.S. Army Headquarters of the Alaskan Command in Anchorage during World War II. He had a highly successful career in international relations, earning an Intelligence Medal for “exceptional achievement” and a rare medal for “outstanding performance,” together with a “certificate of distinction.”

In retirement, Lou spent time writing books: Columbus and the New World, Hero of the Millennium and The U.S. and Mussolini (based on the classified files of the State Department and the captured papers of Mussolini).

Lou indeed was a remarkable person and is survived by his devoted wife, Olga; four children; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Gordon Cole ’44

50th Reunion

Louis Desanti
I was born in West Boylston, Massachusetts, but grew up as a boy in Italy, on the Adriatic Riviera. I received my early education in Italy and in the West Boylston public schools, then entered Amherst in September 1940. After the summer session of 1942 I went into the U.S. Army, eventually serving in the Alaskan Theater. While in Alaska I married a War Department secretary from Minnesota, Mary Erceg. We had four children - Nancy, Barbara, Sharon and Richard. My wife died in 1975, and I then married Shirley Olsen in 1976, also from Minnesota.

My son Richard didn't get into Amherst; he attended the University of Virginia and Boston University and later its law school, earning B.A. and J.D. degrees and an M.A. from Harvard on environmental studies. He is now the environmental attorney of the Mobil Oil Corporation, here in the Washington suburbs. My daughters are married, pursuing careers and live in the Washington area.

I returned to Amherst in the summer of 1946 and graduated in January 1947. In December 1946 I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I went straight to Columbia University, earning M.A. and Ph.D. degrees (1951) in International Law and Relations.

The next 25 years I spent with the Central Intelligence Agency, with assignments in Europe and the Far East and extensive travel throughout Latin America. It was a rich, rewarding career!

Louis Desanti
After the CIA I bad an 11-year career with Virginia's Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, operating in Northern Virginia instead of the world at large. For my third career l researched, wrote and published a book on Columbus for the Quincentennial: COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD. Now I'm researching and writing another book, THE U.S. AND MUSSOLTNI, aiming for a 1995 publication.

Shirley and I are active in church activities and busy with our children and grandchildren (10 as of now). We travel to Europe often, but in 1994 the trip we look forward to most will be to Amherst for our 50th reunion.