CLASS OF 1890

Jay Bayard Benton died May 25 at his home in Winchester, Mass. He had been in failing health for four years, but had been daily at his desk until three months before his death.

A son of Charles Emerson and Adda (Chamberlin) Benton, he was born in Guildhall, Vt., April 10, 1870. He graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy in 1885, and spent the year before his entrance to college as librarian of the Young Men's Institute, a social settlement on the East Side of New York city. In College he was a member of Theta Delta Chi, and- was prominent in all musical and literary matters, being editor of the Literary Magazine. He graduated with Phi Beta Kappa rank.

In the fall following graduation he entered upon a long career of newspaper work as a reporter on the Boston Transcript. He soon became assistant city editor, but left the Transcript in June, 1894, to become assistant managing editor of the Boston Journal. He remained on this paper four years, and then returned to the Transcript as city editor.

He was greatly interested in dramatic matters, and was Boston correspondent of the New York Dramatic Mirror from 1891 to 1912. For many years he was press representative of the Hollis Street Theatre, the Colonial Theatre, and the Tremont, and of the Park Theatre until it became a moving picture house.

Mr. Benton had long been connected with Masonry, and had been an active worker and an officer in all branches of the fraternity.

Some years ago he became actively interested in aeronautics. He had made numerous balloon ascensions, and was the thirty-third man in America to receive a license as an international aeronautic pilot. In ballooning he won several prizes, including the BostonHerald cup and the Stevens cup for the longest flight on record in Xew England. He was president of the Aero Club of New England in 1912, and assisted in forming the Association of International Aeronautic Pilots, which he served as secretary. Before clubs in Boston and elsewhere Mr. Benton had delivered addresses on his balloon trips and experiences.

Mr. Benton was a member of the University, Newspaper, Papyrus, Point Shirley, and Winchester Country Clubs, and of the Franklin Typographical Society. He was never married.

An associate writes of him in the Transcript: "Generosity to his friends, scrupulous fidelity to every duty, honesty and virtue and pure gayety and self-denial—these made up his record."