Benjamin W(Aring) Partridge Jr. (1915-2005) Biography

See index for SATA sketch: Born March 9, 1915, in Huntington, WV; died of pneumonia April 12, 2005, in Takoma Park, MD. Naval officer, lawyer, and author. Partridge was a veteran and former attorney for the U.S. Navy who later became an active environmentalist. Graduating from the University of Florida in 1937, he was a deputy commissioner in Florida before enlisting in the U.S. Navy at the beginning of World War II. During the war, he commanded small combat ships in both the European and Pacific theaters. After the war, he earned his law degree at the University of Miami in 1948. When the United States entered the Korean conflict he returned to active duty as a ship's commander. From 1950 until 1968, Partridge was a law specialist for the navy. He then retired from the military and became actively interested in environmental issues. From 1971 until 1974 he was director of state planning in Vermont and chair of the Vermont Environmental Board, specializing in land use and helping to write state law on the subject. He later did similar work for the state of Alaska from 1976 to 1977. His last job was as a consultant for the North Slope Borough of Barrow, Alaska, from 1978 to 1985. In addition to this work, Partridge collaborated on several children's books with his wife, Cora Cheney. Among these are China Sea Roundup (1958), Underseas (1961), and Crown of the World: A View of the Inner Arctic (1979).