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April 28, 2006
Alexander “Sandy” B. Trowbridge ’47 died April 27, 2006, at his home in Washington, D.C. Trowbridge was a loyal alumnus of Phillips Academy and served as alumni trustee from 1979 to 1983 and as a charter trustee 1985 to 1998. His father, A. Buel Trowbridge, taught religion and science at Phillips Academy from 1929 to 1933, and was a Rhodes scholar. Sandy spent part of his childhood living on campus, and he enjoyed surprising people with tales about living in Johnson Hall as a faculty child.
Trowbridge was commerce secretary in 1967–68 and a former president of the National Association of Manufacturers. He died at age 76 with Lewy disease, a brain disorder.
Trowbridge was born in Englewood, N.J., and graduated from Princeton in 1951. He earned a Bronze Star as a Marine officer in the Korean War. After serving briefly in the Central Intelligence Agency, he started his career with Caltex Petroleum and Esso Standard Oil in Panama, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico.
In 1965 he was tapped by the Lyndon Johnson administration to join the U.S. Department of Commerce. At age 36, Trowbridge became the youngest chief in the history of the Commerce Department and the youngest member of Johnson’s cabinet.
He later became president of the American Management Association and also of the National Industrial Conference Board.
In 1976 he became vice chairman of Allied Chemical. His skillful handling of an environmental pollution scandal was cited by the EPA as a model response for industry. In 1978 Trowbridge joined the board of the National Association of Manufacturers, and became its president two years later. He also served as an advisor to several Democratic and Republican presidential administrations.
Trowbridge had a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., Trowbridge Partners, from the early 1990s until two years ago.
His wife of 25 years, Eleanor Hutzler Trowbridge, survives him; as do two sons, Stephen and C. Scott; daughter Kimberly; stepdaughter Barbara; stepson Charles; and nine grandchildren.
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