Ralph Gooding Packard

Ralph Gooding Packard
Birth October 26, 1840 Niagra Falls, NY
Death March 23, 1928 Morristown, NJ
Burial March 26, 1928 Morristown, NJ

Brother Packard resided on Sussex Avenue in Morristown, New Jersey when he died. he was a member of the class of 1864. He married Harriet L. Parker on March 15, 1869 and had two children; Ralph Jr. and Lavini. He founded the Rensselaer Alumni Association in 1922 and was elected its first President. The following is an excerpt from the Herald Tribune in Morristown dated March 25, 1928 with Brother Packard’s obituary:

R. G. Packard Funeral at Morristown Tomorrow
Associates in Engineering and RPI alumni to attend
Morristown: March 24-1928

Funeral services for Ralph Gooding Packard, retired engineer, big-game hunter and president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association, who died yesterday at his home on Sussex Avenue, will be held Monday at 2:30 pm at the home. Mr. Packard was eighty-seven years old and the only surviving founder and member of Theta Xi Fraternity, which he helped to start at his alma mater April 29, 1964.

E. P. Hamilton, of New York a member of the Grand Lodge of Theta Xi Fraternity will head a delegation attending the services, and Daniel L. Turner, consulting engineer of the New York Transit Commission. The RPI alumni, of which Mr. Packard was one of the oldest members and chief supporters, also is expected to send representatives.

Mr. Packard was graduated from RPI in 1864, and joined the Navy Department as an engineer at the New York Navy yard, where he became chief engineer within a year. After five years in the navy Mr. Packard went into private engineering, forming the Atlantic Dredging Company in 1871. This later became the R. G. Packard Company. He retired in 1918, and as recently as 1926 made a hunting trip to Alaska.

Among the Project in which he engaged were the construction of the river foundations of the Poughkeepsie Bridge across the Hudson and the dredging of Hell Gate. Mr. Packard was a native of Niagara Falls, NY.