2000s

Benjamin Drysdale Price ’09

Benjamin Drysdale Price ’09, the son of James D., a business consultant, and Victoria (Tori) Humphrey Price, was born on May 20, 1986, in Boston. When he was 2 years old, the family moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he grew up. At a very early age Ben Price discovered books and was captivated by their lure. They and the characters they conjured up enlivened his imagination and enriched his childhood play. Athletic, and welcoming physical challenges, he played soccer and swam competitively as a member of a local club. At Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, he had not only played varsity soccer and co-captained the swim team, on which he specialized in the breaststroke, but also ran track. In addition, he was lead guitar for a rock band.

Ben Price matriculated at Hamilton from Greenhills School in 2004. He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and participated in intramural sports. He majored in philosophy and minored in comparative literature, and his passion for the written word prompted him to go beyond class assignments to write a paper on Joyce’s Ulysses that won him college awards. While at Hamilton, he struggled with depression, which had begun when he was in high school. At one point it became so debilitating that his family brought him home for help and support. He soon returned to College Hill, however, and was graduated with the Class of 2009.

After leaving the Hill, Ben Price returned to Ann Arbor, where he worked in a Borders bookstore and subsequently at the People’s Food Co-Op. He continued to find the most comfort in his books, as well as in the companionship of his beloved cats. He was especially drawn to the works of Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges, and he delighted in discussing his literary adventures with friends and via his blog.

In the final months of his life, “after more than a decade of struggle and pain,” Benjamin D. Price took his own life in Ann Arbor on Oct. 16, 2013. Surviving are his parents and his sister, Kit Price.