In Remembrance: Alfred W. Wells ’39 Died on September 27 2014

Alfred W. Wells, a former diplomat and architect, died on September 27, 2014, at age 98 in the Canary Islands, Spain, where he lived with his wife, Ambassador Melissa Wells.

He graduated from the Hotchkiss School in 1935, from Yale in 1939, and from George Washington University Law School in 1947. He entered the US Foreign Service in 1941 and served in Buenos Aires, Colombia, Paris, Rangoon, Vienna, Bremen, Bonn, and London.  In his last two posts, he served as executive assistant to Ambassador David Bruce. Upon retirement in 1966 he started a new career. He received degrees in tropical architecture and urban planning from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, in 1970. He worked for Doxiadis Associates, John Portman Associates, as a senior planner in the New York City Economic Development Administration, and finally as a consultant to United Nations Development Program on staff housing in developing countries.

He is survived by his widow Melissa and their sons Christopher and Gregory, and his daughter Gully from his previous marriage. He is also survived by four grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; two brothers, Crosby and Frank; and a sister, Virginia Wells Schwartz.

—Submitted by the family.