Necrology

Richard “Trox” Keene Troxell '50

Jul. 31, 1929-Apr. 19, 2022

Richard “Trox” Keene Troxell ’50 died at his home in Weston, Conn., on April 19, 2022. Born on July 31, 1929, in Baltimore, he came to Hamilton from Baltimore Polytechnic High School in 1946. On the Hill, he focused his studies in German, philosophy, and anthropology, and was a founding member of Alpha Chi fraternity, which would become, thanks in part to his initiative, a chapter of the national fraternity Delta Phi in his senior year.

Other on-campus activities included serving on the staff of WHC radio during his freshman and sophomore years, and participating in the Charlatans during his second and third years. Dick’s academic achievements were exceptional: he was awarded the McKinney Prize in Oratory in his first year, the Fayerweather Prize Scholarship for earning the highest grade point average of all members of the freshman class, and the Benjamin Walworth Arnold Prize Scholarship for again achieving the best record in college coursework. He was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

From Hamilton, Dick proceeded to Harvard Business School where he earned a master’s degree in business administration in 1952. Shortly after departing Harvard, he entered the Air Force with the rank of second lieutenant and was tasked, as he later put it, with “negotiating and administering cost-plus contracts for procurement of complex electronic training aids.” In Rochester on July 11, 1953, while still on active duty, he married Jacqueline “Jackie” Taschl, whom he had met in September 1951 at a mixer at Wellesley College where she was a student.

Ending active duty in August 1953, Dick remained in the Air Force Reserve until 1964 when he was discharged with the rank of captain. That fall, he began 19 years with the Kendall Co., manufacturers of cotton consumer and health-related products. His first position was as a systems analyst in the Chicago division. Promoted in 1957 to be manager of the systems and procedures department in Walpole, Mass., he became assistant controller of the fiber products division two years later. In 1962, he was promoted to controller of that division and, in 1970, to assistant treasurer for all of Kendall. Two years later, he left Kendall to become assistant vice president of the General Reinsurance Corp. in Stamford, Conn., and would remain there for 21 years. The family made its home in Weston, Conn. 

Throughout his life, Dick had a deep commitment to community service. In Walpole, he served on the board of selectmen from 1967 to 1970, as a member of the town’s appropriations committee, and as its moderator for town meetings from 1970 to 1972. He was a member of the Walpole Republican town committee, and he and Jackie were also active in the United Church of Christ.

In Weston, he joined the town’s board of finance from 1974 to 1979, and chaired the panel of moderators while serving as town meeting moderator beginning in 1982. Active in the Norfield Congregational Church, he served as a trustee from 1975 to 1978 and chaired its nominating committee. Dick was also on the board of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra from 1980 to 1984, on Weston’s Republican town committee, and was a founding member of the town’s Kiwanis Club. 

In retirement, Dick was a docent at the Weston Historical Society. He and Jackie traveled extensively, visiting her extended Austrian family and exploring Western Europe, London, Tokyo, Alaska, and various national parks. He continued to immerse himself in history.

Dick’s experiences on the Hill were of great importance to him. Memories of a philosophy seminar devoted to the philosophical foundations of western civilization presided over by Professor John Blyth, classes in anthropology with Earl Count, houseparty weekends, and lasting friendship were of greatest significance to him. In his 50th reunion yearbook, he wrote: “The ability imparted at Hamilton to think, speak, and write clearly and succinctly has served me well not only in business but in outside activities including local politics and government, the affairs of my local church, and service with nonprofit organizations.” 

Dick was a charter member of the Joel Bristol Associates, a self-described “steady, if modest, contributor” to the Hamilton Fund, and agent for his class. Given his particular expertise, he also kept a close eye on the College’s finances and expenditures and regarded it as particularly important that the College produce an annual report concerning its financial condition for the alumni, a publication that is now routine.

Richard K. Troxell is survived by his wife, two daughters, a son, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

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