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Daniel Weatherbee Fulmer

Daniel Weatherbee Fulmer '54

Nov. 23, 1932-Dec. 13, 2019

His professional accomplishments were impressive in government and beyond, but for Daniel Weatherbee Fulmer ’54, his spiritual journey was the most important part of his life.

In comments he prepared for his obituary, Fulmer wrote that in his “closing years,” he was taking seriously Hamilton’s motto of “Know Thyself.” Fulmer, a Harvard educated lawyer with two master’s degrees, wrote five books that he said showed “the saga of Know Thyself.” 

Looking back at his life, he observed, “I see that in some mysterious way I have been used to pass on the message that self-knowledge can bring more than personal happiness. In my government career, I worked with evaluators to teach agency staff how to dig deep into the reality of their work so as to bring that reality more in line with goals. Later, I saw that these counseling techniques were equally what counted in my activities associated with the rehabilitation of addicts.”

Fulmer, who lived in the Houston area, died on Dec. 13, 2019. He moved to Houston in 2017 to be close to family, but he’d lived in many and varied places over the course of his life, from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii.

He was born on Nov. 23, 1932, in New York City, the son of Robert and Mildred Getchell Fulmer. He graduated from high school in Rye, N.Y., and then headed to Hamilton, where he majored in political science and French.

“I guess I will always remember being left off at South Dorm by my father freshman year, having some faint glimmer of what lay ahead — becoming an adult, growing from mistakes and disappointments, finding out what true civilization is all about, discovering the world of spire, and above all, learning to love learning,” Fulmer wrote in his 50th reunion yearbook.

Working at The Spectator all four years of college, he became editor-in-chief. He joined Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, served on the press and publications boards and the Student Admissions Committee, and was part of the Charlatans for all four years, too, directing several plays.

Fulmer was a staunch supporter of his alma mater, serving for many years as class correspondent and at points was a class agent and regional chairman of the Alumni Fund. His fondest Hamilton memories included exploring the stacks in the library while he was supposed to be shelving books; listening to poetry at the Saunders’ home; being challenged by professors George Nesbitt, Franklin Hamlin, and Edwin Barrett; and “slogging” away at The Spec in the basement of Root Hall. 

After College, Fulmer moved back to New York and married Jane Cegledy. He served briefly as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy before entering law school. After graduating in 1962, he began a career in government that included working for the secretary of defense, the director of the Peace Corps, and Congress, where he helped write legislation that created the Department of Transportation. He was there for nearly 10 years, working in traffic safety. His published obituary said he worked with Ralph Nader at the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, helping to establish the first national safety rules for cars.

Fulmer took a sharp career turn in 1983, retiring from government and earning a master’s degree in counseling and psychology. (He later earned a master’s degree in English as a second language education.) His counseling work took him to Houston to work in addiction treatment, then he followed his spiritual quest to learn from a Trappist monk in Virginia, where he spent a year in spiritual retreat.

Alcoholics Anonymous was a big part of his spiritual life, his obituary said. Fulmer wrote in his 50th reunion yearbook that he discovered when he was in his 40s that he was alcoholic and gay and “started down the unpredictable path of recovery and personal growth.”

Fulmer’s first marriage had ended in divorce, and when he moved to California he met the love of his life, Steven Maze, and the two married, first living in Kauai, Hawaii, and then Florida. Maze died in 2017.

Fulmer was politically active, his obituary said, and he led local campaign efforts for Shirley Chisolm, Gene McCarthy, and Walter Mondale. He loved and supported the arts in all forms; opera was his particular passion.

Besides his spouse, Fulmer was predeceased by his oldest son. Survivors include two other children.

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Note: Memorial biographies published prior to 2004 will not appear on this list.



Necrology Writer and Contact:
Christopher Wilkinson '68
Email: Chris.Wilkinson@mail.wvu.edu

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