Text: Image Number: 00966 Household Gender Age Birthplace Head Harry Kowalsky M 40 New York Wife Emma Kowalsky F 40 Russia Son Leonard Kowalsky M 12 New York Daughter Esther Kowalsky F 9 New York Son Milton Kowalsky M 7 New York
Milton Preston Kayle ’43, an attorney, former trustee of the College, and one of the last surviving members of the Truman White House staff, was born on July 17, 1922, in Utica, NY. His parents were Harry S. Kowalsky, an insurance agent, and the former Emma Wineburgh. “Milt” Kayle grew up in Utica and was graduated in 1939 from Utica Free Academy. He came up to Hamilton that fall and soon gained recognition for his oratorical skills in those days when public speaking was greatly emphasized, and prized, on the Hill. A leading member of the Debate Team for four years and winner of the McKinney Prize Debate, he gained election to the forensic honorary Delta Sigma Rho. President of the Squires Club, he also served on the Interfraternity Council and the Student Council in his senior year. In addition, he found time to manage the basketball team. Outstanding academically, he acquired a Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year and was graduated in January 1943 with honors in Latin, political science, and public speaking. On June 13 of that year, he and Dorothy P. “Dottie” Slater were married in Utica.
Described by The Hamiltonian as “The boy wonder [who] delved into so many activities in College that any job elsewhere is sure to be a snap for him,” Milt Kayle went to Washington, DC, after leaving the Hill to begin an internship at the National Institute of Public Affairs. By the fall of 1943, however, he had joined the flood of young men into the U.S. Army in the midst of World War II. He saw combat as an infantryman in the European theater, and was a provost marshal in occupied Germany when he was discharged as a sergeant in 1946.
His interest in the law having been kindled by his earlier experience in Washington, Milt Kayle entered Harvard Law School, where he earned his LL.B degree in 1948. He promptly returned to Washington and joined the Bureau of the Budget as a legislative analyst. Named assistant general counsel for the Office of Defense Mobilization in 1951, and a special assistant on the White House staff a few months later, he focused on matters concerning organized labor and had a hand in drafting legal documents such as executive orders and memoranda of opinion, including those that led to the famous confrontation with U.S. Steel in 1952. Also having assisted in the preparation of the President’s major speeches, he came away from his White House experience with an exceptionally high regard for Harry S. Truman as “a man of courage and conviction.”
Milt Kayle left Washington in early 1953 when the Eisenhower administration took office. He moved to New York City, where he embarked on a successful corporate legal career specializing in entertainment and sports law. Among those he represented were such television and sports personalities as Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin, and Jackie Robinson. He also negotiated TV production and syndication contracts for programs including The Howdy Doody Show and Lassie. He later became a pioneer in merchandise licensing with clients ranging from the 1946 New York World’s Fair and Expo ’67 in Montreal to the Major League Players Association and the Picasso estate. For many years, beginning in 1969, he was counsel to the firm of Gilbert, Segall & Young. He was semi-retired by the early 1990s.
Invited to serve on the Truman Centennial Committee in 1984, Mitt Kayle became a trustee of the Harry S. Truman Library Institute in Independence, MO, in 1993, and later served as secretary and treasurer of its board. He was also a member of the Judson Welliver Society, made up of former presidential speechwriters. In addition, he took a lively interest in community and cultural affairs, and served on the boards of Temple Israel in New Rochelle, NY, where he and Dottie had long resided, and the advisory council of the Arts Guild of Old Forge, NY, where they maintained a summer home.
Through the years, Milt Kayle sustained a warm affection for Hamilton, which was tangibly demonstrated in multiple ways. Besides serving on the Alumni Council and assisting with fund-raising campaigns, he chaired the first planned giving committee in the early 1970s and contributed greatly to the development of that vital program. The Kayle Cup, awarded to the class that records the highest percentage increase in planned gifts, is named for him. In addition, he served as an alumni trustee from 1978 to 1982, and the Kayles generously benefited Hamilton’s students by establishing financial aid funds. They include the H. Samuel Slater Prize in Romance Languages, in memory of Milt’s father-in-law, the Edith Hale Harkness Scholarship, with preference for students in the performing arts, and the Owen A. Roberts Scholarship, named for Owen Roberts ’25, one of Milt’s teachers at Utica Free Academy. In 1993, Milt Kayle delivered the Class of 1943’s Half-Century Annalist’s Letter, which was well laced with his keen insight, rare perspective, and gentle humor. In 2006, for his many contribution to the College, he was presented with the Bell Ringer Award.
The Kayles left New Rochelle after 51 years in 2004 and moved to Glenview, IL. Milton P. Kayle died in Glenview on February 19, 2012, in his 90th year. Besides his wife of 68 years, he is survived by two daughters, Jennifer Posner and Hilary Crist, and three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Milt Kayle will long be remembered for his generous nature and public spirit, and for his ardent and wholehearted dedication to the things in which he believed.
Text: Given Name: Milton Middle Name: Surname: Kayle Name Suffix: Birth Date: 17 July 1922 Social Security Number: State: New York Last Place of Residence: Previous Residence Postal Code: Event Date: 19 February 2012 Age: 90
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