Eric Earle Hopley Jr. ’73

Eric Earle Hopley Jr. ’73 died on May 5, 2016, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from complications related to pancreatic and prostate cancer. Eric grew up in a Navy family and attended high schools in Connecticut, Spain and Virginia. He came to Dartmouth from Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia, where he was a competitive swimmer. At Dartmouth Eric majored in French, graduating with distinction in that subject. As an undergraduate he led Outward Bound trips in New Hampshire. After Dartmouth Eric moved to Oakland, California, where he began a lifelong vocation of working union jobs and promoting solidarity among workers. He was also a political activist supporting progressive social causes, including equal opportunity and economic justice. In California Eric continued to lead Outward Bound trips. In 1989 he moved to Miami to live, work and learn to scuba dive. In recent years Eric annually took three-week road trips with his brother, Richard, to camp, hike and kayak in Florida, the Southwest desert, the Rocky Mountains and New England. Following his cancer diagnosis in November 2014, Eric began chemotherapy and regained enough strength in 2015 to take a final three-week tour of New England with Richard that included a visit to the Dartmouth campus. On May 1, 2016, in failing health, Eric moved to Richard’s Winston-Salem home and died four days later in the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice. Eric is survived by Richard and brother Ronald and several nephews and nieces.