Arnold

Class of 1965

William (Bill) Brenton Arnold, MD

1943-1998

Bill Arnold was born in Englewood New Jersey in 1943. At the University of Virginia he was in the College of Arts & Sciences. He joined the Beta Upsilon Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity on September 22, 1962 and his initiation number is BU #0040. His activities included Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corp (AFROTC) and the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society. He attended medical school and gained board certification as a psychiatrist. He served in the U. S. Air Force. He died tragically in 1998.

Bill came from a lovely family. His father was Honorable William J. Arnold, Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County. During my graduate study years in New York, I had spent several agreeable evenings with Bill and his parents at 21 West Ivy Lane in Englewood.

--Compiled by Russell H. Davis (Class of 1962)

Here are two tributes to Bill, one by Don Slesnick and the other by Jack Sullivan.

My fraternity brother, my traveling companion, my kindred spirit in chasing women (before my marriage, of course) and my best man at my wedding. After graduation in 1965 he and I took the grand tour of Europe by rail – we didn’t see a lot of historic sites but tried all the restaurants and bars. Bill was an Air Force ROTC grad and served on active duty after medical school. While in the Air Force he traveled to Germany to visit Jeannett and me (where the Army had assigned me to work with NATO). He spent some time on a commune in California (during the later years of the hippie generation), and then located in Miami practicing as a cruise ship doctor. He later became a psychiatrist and practiced in and around NYC living at home with his parents. He died by slipping on a slippery back staircase in the house and broke his neck. His Dad (a well known Judge of Bergen County) is dead, but his Mom still lives in the same house in Englewood (a place where I spent many Thanksgiving and spring breaks). He died far too young – it was a sad ending to a complicated life – but there was very little that he had not experienced.

--Don Slesnick

I spent several days with him at various times in 1990 and once or twice in 1992 or 1993 at his apartment in Englewood, N.J. which is the town where his folks lived. I am not sure if one or both survive him to this day. Bill was practicing medicine at a city or state facility in NY as a psychiatrist, I believe. I am not sure what he did in the mid-90's. He was very kind to me as I was going through a divorce living in Mass. and having to commute to NJ for attorney and court appearances. I only found out about his death when his mother called my home on Cape Cod in 1998 after I had sent him a Christmas card and advised of his death. Don Slesnick was aware of the cause of his death, a tragic accident at his parents' home from what Don told me. In my mind the personification of brotherhood was Bill's kindness to me during the above time. If I may be of any further assistance please let me know.

--Fraternally, Jack Sullivan