Deceased August 18, 2021

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In Memory

Ralph Powell '54
My father was named Ralph Dewey Powell Jr., but before he had an official name, he had already been nicknamed Tad. 

Tad Powell was born in 1932; attended Amherst College and graduated in 1954; went on to Boston University School of Medicine, graduating in 1958; and practiced pathology for more than 50 years.

He was father to six of his own children and stepfather to two of Deborah Powell’s children from a previous marriage. 

He loved to fish, ski and talk to his best friend, Paul Schliakjer. He loved music, and when he was at Amherst, he and his friend agreed that “this rock ’n’ roll thing is a fad that will never last.” He was a lifelong athlete, rowing in high school and competing on the football team in college (although I learned when I was there that he chose not to play his senior year, in 1953, when the team went undefeated. Oh, well.). He was skiing into his late 80s, overcoming a broken collarbone and a torn ACL to get back onto the slopes. He was very smart and interested in all sorts of things.

Ralph '54 and Nate '04 Powell
When I began considering colleges in high school, I thought that I would really like to be like my dad someday, and he always said that he had a great time in college, so I was strongly considering Amherst, and everything I learned about the school just made me more enthusiastic. It wasn’t until after I had been there for a year or two that I realized I would be graduating in 2004, the year of my dad’s 50th reunion. I always thought that was pretty cool, and as a bonus, we got to go to reunions together after that. 

He was kind and gentle and very loved.

Nate Powell ’04