W. ROBERT BENKISER, retired chief executive officer of the overseas affiliates of the Caltex Petroleum Corp., died Apr. 22, 2005 at age 80. He was a member of Chi Psi and received a master’s degree in business administration from New York University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Benkiser, and three children, including Gregory Benkiser ’73.
CARLYLE F. (“HAP”) BARNES, 87, the retired chief executive of the Barnes Group, Inc., and the recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Wesleyan, died Jan. 21, 2012. He was a member of Psi Upsilon. After receiving his degree he joined his family’s business, a diversified manufacturing company, and rose to become chairman and CEO in 1964, retiring in 1994. In 1977 he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Trinity College. He was a director of numerous educational and charitable institutions, for which he received many awards. In 1999 he received the John Filer Award for Creative Leadership in Philanthropy from the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. He also collected antique fire memorabilia, a hobby that evolved into the creation of the Museum of Fire History in Bristol, Conn. The brother-in-law of the late Edwin H. May Jr. of the class of 1948, survivors include his wife, Elizabeth May Barnes, four children, ten grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and a large extended family
HOWARD S. BAKER, a travel and tourism executive, died Mar. 13, 2011. He was 85. A member of Psi Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was active in civic organizations in Lake Placid, N.Y., and he served on the Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee in 1980. No immediate family survives.
