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Irad Steadman Ingraham

Irad Steadman Ingraham '57

May. 23, 1937-Jul. 16, 2022

Irad Steadman Ingraham ’57, P’83, GP’13,’17 died on July 16, 2022. Born in Boston on May 23, 1937, he grew up in Slingerlands, N.Y., and came to Hamilton from Bethlehem (N.Y.) Central High School.

On the Hill, he majored in English literature and was a member of the Emerson Literary Society. He ran track all four years, managed the cross country team as a senior, and was a member of Block “H” Club from his sophomore through senior years. During his junior year, Irad was a member of the International Relations Club and the Intramural Council. In March 1955, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves. In the fall of that year, he invited Janet Houghton, then a sophomore at Plattsburgh State Teachers’ College, to Houseparty Weekend. As he noted in his 40th reunion yearbook: “We’ve been going together ever since.” They were married in December 1959.

From Hamilton, Irad proceeded to Albany Law School, earning his Bachelor of Laws in 1960. Thereafter, he and Janet relocated to New Berlin, N.Y., where she taught school and he practiced law, served as the assistant county attorney and, later, as district attorney. At the age of 38, he was elected judge for Chenango County, becoming the youngest county judge in the state. Nine years later, he was elected to the New York State Supreme Court for the Sixth Judicial District, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1999.

Early in his tenure on the State Supreme Court, Irad worked at the court’s office in lower Manhattan. He took the opportunity to study in the evenings at the nearby Arts Students League, where he deepened an interest in painting he first cultivated in the 1970s when he studied with a wildlife artist in Syracuse. In retirement, he took up a second career as a portrait painter, working out of the family’s home in Norwich, N.Y. Dear to the Hill is a portrait of his favorite professor: George Lyman Nesbitt of the English Department. It was presented to the College during Hamilton’s Bicentennial in 2012 and hangs today in the Nesbitt-Johnson Writing Center.

Throughout his career, Irad served the communities in which he resided. He was a member of the board of directors of the Chenango Memorial Hospital, the Red Cross, and the local YMCA. He also served a term as president of the Rotary Club and was on the boards of the Chenango County Council of the Arts and the New Berlin Library.

In addition to contributing faithfully to the Hamilton Fund and a succession of capital campaigns, Irad served on the Alumni Council and was a member of his class’s reunion gift committee. He and Janet took advantage of travel opportunities offered by the College.
In his 50th reunion yearbook, Irad said Hamilton “provided me with a firm foundation in English and public speaking. This, in turn, proved invaluable in [my] advancement in the law.” He also highly valued the honor system, an aid “in so many decisions which I have made.”

Irad S. Ingraham is survived by his wife, daughter, and two sons, including John H. Ingraham ’83, as well as 10 grandchildren, including Stephanie I. Mahoney ’13 and Joseph C. Sullivan III ’17.

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