TALCOTT MINER BANKS

1905-1983

Talcott Banks was perhaps better known as a sportsman and a devotee of the musical arts than as a mountaineer. He was bom in Englewood, New Jersey, June 23, 1905. After three years at Hotchkiss he attended Williams College, graduating with an A.B. degree in 1928. During his years at college and afterward when he attended Harvard Law School, from which he received his LLB degree in 1931, he made a number of climbs in the Alps, among them the Finsteraarhorn by the west ridge and the Matterhorn traverse by the Zmutt Ridge. He was also an avid tennis player and during his last year in college was President of the National Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

After leaving law school he joined the firm of Palmer Dodge and apparently never found time to resume his climbing but busied himself with other activities, assuming a prominent role in the management of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in arranging for sponsors for the annual visit of the Metropolitan Opera Company to Boston as well as serving on many boards of directors. Although he dropped his membership in the Club in 1936 he rejoined in 1945 after his wartime stint in Washington as General Counsel of the Board of Investigation and Research.

Kenneth A. Henderson