Leo F. Caproni Jr. ’42

Leo F. Caproni Jr. ’42, class president, died September 4, 2016, in New York after a brief illness. Leo joined the Army Air Corps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and was sent to the Pacific to pilot transport planes to Iwo Jima and other besieged islands. He returned to Dartmouth to complete his degree in 1947. Leo was a member of the Dartmouth Outing Club and Sigma Alpha Epsilon and served on the Jack-O-Lantern. David Heald ’42, manager of the Hanover Inn, hired Leo, which started his career operating various hotels, including New York’s Carlyle Hotel when President John F. Kennedy was a frequent guest. Leo met his wife, Joanna, in 1960 when she stayed in a hotel he managed, and they married later that year. Leo taught courses in hospitality management at CUNY in Brooklyn as a full professor for more than 20 years. He and Joanna spent summers in Truro on Cape Cod for more than 40 years. There he pursued his passions for fishing and half-hull modeling, and he showed his works in a small gallery in Truro. Leo helped direct Dartmouth at War, a book of WW II memoirs from members of the class of ’42 published in 2011. Leo served on a wide range of class and College committees, including as overseer of the Hanover Inn, Alumni Fund volunteer, class president for eight years and member of the 50th reunion committee. He is survived by Joanna, his wife of 56 years, children from two previous marriages, Peter, Carol and Leo III; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Donations may be made in Leo’s memory to Dartmouth or the Truro Historical Society.