Charles Gillette ’42, a leading authority on the Iroquois Indians, died on May 4, 2008, in Hoosick Falls, N.Y., at the age of 88.
Gillette was a World War II veteran who received his master’s degree from the University of Chicago in anthropology. He became senior curator and later senior scientist of archeology at the New York State Museum in Albany, where he retired in 1982. He helped establish the Iroquois Museum in Howe Caverns and the Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda. Among other works, Gillette published
The People of the Longhouse: A Guide to the Iroquois Indian Groups.
Gillette was part of a legacy family, including his parents,
C. Edgar Gillette ’10 and
Celia Rogers Gillette ’17; brothers
P. Roger Gillette ’37 and
James Gillette ’47; wife
Gwyn Young Gillette ’40; brother-in-law
Elwood Young ’43; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. He is survived by wife Gwyn, two children, brother Roger, and a sister-in-law.
