Victor Cutter '03, Trustee Emeritus, Dies in Washington as Result of Fall

MEMBERS of the Dartmouth family everywhere were shocked to learn of the death of Victor M. Cutter '03 in Washington, D. C. on Christmas Day. His death was the result of a fall down a flight of stairs while he was visiting his daughter in Falls Church, Va.

Victor Macomber Cutter was born in Dracut, Mass., September 2, 1881, the son of Charles Howe and Annie (Macomber) Cutter. He attended Lowell High School and after graduating from Dartmouth in 1903 received his M.C.S. from Tuck School in 1904. In 1934 he received an honorary A.M. degree from Dartmouth. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and in spite of the fact that he was working his way through college he graduated with Phi Beta Kappa rank.

Vic immediately went to work for the United Fruit Company as a $68 per month timekeeper in Costa Rica. Six months later despite repeated bouts with malaria and a local prejudice against college graduates, he was promoted to superintendent of the entire district division. From then on his rise was steady. He developed new plantations in Guatemala and Honduras, turning jungle regions into productive lands; in 1917 he was made vice-president in charge of the Tropic Division, and in 1924, by unanimous choice of the directors, he was made president of the company. As president he guided an organization of 68,000 persons, with holdings in nine tropical countries, a fleet of more than 100 vessels and hundreds of miles of railroads. He resigned from the company in 1933.

Vic was also former president of the Revere Sugar Refining Cos. and the Tropical Radio Telegraph Cos. He was a director of the New England Mutual Insurance Cos., the New England Telephone and Telegraph Cos., the U.S. Rubber Cos. and the International General Electric Cos. From 1934 to 1941 he was regional chairman of the National Resources Planning Board and chairman of the New England Planning Commission. He was a life member of the Corporation of M.I.T. and a trustee of Colby Junior College.

Dartmouth has never graduated a more devoted son than Vic Cutter. He was chairman of the Tuck School Clearing House, 1922-24, and president from 1936 to 38. A member of the Alumni Council, 1924-30, he served as its president, 1928-30. He was president of the Boston Alumni Association for 1925-26 and president of the General Alumni Association, 1931-33. In 1933 he was elected to the Board of Trustees and in 1941 was made a life member of the Board, serving as chairman of the Committee on Investments. In 1951, at the age of 70, he retired to become Trustee Emeritus.

Born on a farm, Vic delighted in making things grow and in the forest garden at his summer home in New London, N. H., he had collected many varieties of wild flowers. Here every summer he and Mrs. Cutter were hosts to the staff of officers of the College, whom they welcomed for blueberry picking, swimming and picnicking.

In 1913 Vic was married in Guatemala City to Florence dejongh, the daughter of the Dutch consul there. She survives him with their daughter Thelma (the wife of Col. Harold W. Leuenberger) and two sons Victor M. Jr. '38 and Donald deJ. '45. Vic's home was at 68 Beacon St., Boston.

The flag is flying at half staff for Vic Cutter among his classmates, the hundreds of his alumni friends, and his friends and neighbors in Boston and New London.

VICTOR MACOMBER CUTTER '03