In Remembrance: R. Kemerer Edwards ’49 Died on November 27 2024

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R. Kemerer “Kem” Edwards passed away on November 27, 2024, at the age of 96. He had a long and distinguished career in the insurance field, and after retirement he returned to New Haven for a second “career” as a student: during these years he audited more than 150 courses at Yale, attending classes and completing assignments with vigor.  (Read more about his post-retirement days in this Yale Alumni Magazine profile from 2010.)

Kem was devoted to fitness, taking up jogging in the 1960s, and he continued to hit the gym at Yale into his early 90s. He was equally devoted to singing, and was a member of the Yale Glee Club, the Spizzwinks, and the storied Whiffenpoofs, with whom he continued to sing at reunions, even just weeks before his death.  

Kem served Yale in many ways, and was recognized with the Yale Medal in 2015. His tireless service to the Yale Class of 1949 as class secretary found him organizing minireunions, sending class newsletters, and writing the 1949 class notes for the alumni magazine, which he continued to do until just before his death.