Deceased July 23, 2017
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In Memory
Ted Nugent died peacefully on July 23 at a hospice facility in his hometown of Holland, Mich. He had fallen several times in previous months, the last of which occasioned what proved to be fatal head injuries.
Ted came to Amherst from Brooklyn, N.Y., where he graduated from Friends School along with Will Weeks ’51. Following Amherst, Ted matriculated at Columbia University School of Architecture, graduated in 1955, married and moved to Madison, Wis. That year, Ted received his registration as an architect and started a small firm with two others, designing buildings for Wisconsin and its university. His marriage failed in 1965.
Ted moved to Michigan to join an architectural firm in Grand Rapids. Now being not far from Lake Michigan, Ted acquired a cruising boat and participated in local and long distance races, including several “Chicago to Mackinac.” Ted remarried in 1971 and moved that year to Holland, Mich., where his new wife lived, and started his own one-man firm designing residences large and small, industrial buildings and a large marina complex.
Ted displayed his love of automobiles at Amherst, where he drove his Cadillac the long way to Mount Holyoke by way of the Connecticut River roads to avoid the potholes of Route 116 at the top of the Notch. His lifelong hobby was restoring older Mercedes-Benz sports cars and convertibles, which he drove to antique car shows or for fun on bright sunny days.
He is survived by Donna, his wife of 46 years; a son; two daughters; two grandchildren; two stepsons; two step-grandchildren; and two pet pooches.
Everett E. Clark ’51, with input from Gary Holman ’51