Hobart and William Smith Colleges

3 April 2007 Author Kurt Vonnegut dies

Writer Kurt Vonnegut, who spoke at the HWS commencement ceremony in 1974 and received an honorary degree, died Wednesday, April 11. He was 84 years old.

In a Spring 2001 article in The Pulteney St. Survey, Vonnegut said that one of his best-known characters, Billy Pilgrim, in Slaughterhouse-Five, was inspired by Edward R. Joe Crone '45, who attended HWS before enlisting in the Army in the spring of 1943 and who was imprisoned with Vonnegut during the bombing of Dresden.

Read about their connection here or the full story here.

Vonnegut wrote several novels, including Cat's Cradle, Player Piano, A Man Without a Country, Breakfast of Champions, and probably his best-known, Slaughterhouse-Five.