Alexander T. Daignault

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow the death August 13, 1998 of Honorary Member Alexander T. Daignault at his home in North Andover, MA, following a long illness. He was 82.

A. Troup Daignault was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and studied at the L’Ecole Alsacienne and the American School in Paris before graduating from Yale University and the Harvard Business School. During World War II he served in the Research and Development Branch of the Military Planning Division of the Office of the Quartermaster General, serving with General George Doriot.

Troup Daignault joined the staff at W.R. Grace Company in 1956 and served in many positions there until his retirement in 1982. He was Executive Vice President and Assistant to the President and Director from 1968 to 1982, and was Chief Financial Officer from 1956 to 1968. Prior to joining W.R. Grace he was a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Westinghouse Air Brake Company from 1953 to 1956; and previously served as Treasurer of Dewey & Almy Chemical Company from 1948 to 1953 and as Director from 1952 to 1954. He was a former Director of the Cordis Corporation, National Life Insurance of Vermont, Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc., and Temple Barker & Sloane.

In addition to serving WHOI as an Honorary Member, Mr. Daignault was a Trustee Emeritus of the Marine Biological Laboratory and a Trustee of the Quissett Harbor Land Trust, and was former President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. Mr. and Mrs. Daignault joined the WHOI Associates Program in 1977.

Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth “Betsy” (Kendrick) Daignault of North Andover and Falmouth; a daughter, Anne Hartman, of Brookline, MA; a son, Alexander T. Daignault, Jr. of Gibson Island, Maryland; and four grandchildren, Emily and Cindy Daignault and Peter and Ned Campion.

A memorial gathering will be held in Quissett at a later date.

Donations may be made in Troup Daignault’s memory to the Visiting Nursing Association of Upper Cape Cod, 67 Ter Heun Drive, Falmouth, MA 02540.