50th Reunion Essay – Roger Graeme Jung Austin

Roger Graeme Jung Austin
Date of Death: 3-Apr-1994
College: Berkeley

From the Class Notes archive: “Roger Austin died suddenly in April of this year, leaving his wife, Wilhelmina, and a son and a daughter. Roger was one of the few of us who served in the Navy during the Vietnam war, and thereafter went to Harvard Business School.”

From Steve Finch: My roommate for two years, Roger Austin, was a true gentleman: soft-spoken, kind, and accommodating. More than that, he was more mature than many of us in that he was unafraid to go against the tide of the popular culture of the 1960s. He was the epitome of neatness and discipline, and politely disregarded the campus-wide opposition to the US military by completing Yale’s then-moribund Navy ROTC curriculum, graduating with an Ensign’s commission, and leading the ROTC contingent at Yale’s commencement ceremony in his dress whites. I regret not having stayed in touch with him more frequently after graduation, although I managed to attend his wedding to his lovely wife. They made an All-American couple. Rest In Peace, Roomie. I am privileged to have known a man as fine as you.