Philippe André Thurneyssen

Philippe André Thurneyssen was widely regarded as a precise, competent and deeply professional teacher, demanding and always fair. Known for encouraging his students to reach high standards, he combined careful preparation and methodical organization with a dry wit that skillfully cajoled students into producing their best work. At the time of his retirement in 1984, Stephen G. Kurtz, the principal of Phillips Exeter Academy at the time, described Philippe as standing “squarely in the fine old tradition of Exeter teachers,” noting that he brought to his classes a love of the French language and culture shaped by his upbringing and education in France and Switzerland, and sustained after his arrival at the school in the fall of 1970.

Born on February 19, 1919, in Paris, Philippe spent his childhood primarily in Paris and Versailles, with formative summers on the east coast of France. Beginning at the age of 15, he spent several summers in Scotland perfecting his English, a preparation that would serve him well after his arrival in the United States in 1949. He pursued a couple of business studies in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, until the outbreak of World War II, when he was drafted into the French army. During the war years, Philippe served with distinction, first in the French Resistance and later, following the liberation of Paris, as a tank commander in the Free French Army under General Leclerc, participating in the liberation of Strasbourg and the campaign into Germany.

After the war, he worked for American Express in Paris and New York, where he met his wife, Ellen Purves, to whom he was married for 48 years. In the 1950s, while supporting a young family, Philippe worked in a variety of occupations before discovering his vocation as a French teacher in 1960. He taught at two other New England schools before joining Phillips Exeter Academy, where he taught until his retirement in 1984. From 1961 to 1972, he spent his summers at Middlebury College, completing his formal education with a master’s degree in French literature.

At Exeter, Philippe was a deeply engaged member of the school community. As a dormitory adviser in Cilley Hall, a varsity skiing and cross-country skiing coach, and a longtime cycling coach, he shared his discipline, energy and practical skills with generations of students. Former colleagues recall him as consistently cheerful and engaging. He served the school generously on numerous committees, including the Attendance Committee, Prize Day Committee and Executive Committee, and was widely respected for the sense of endeavor with which he approached every institutional responsibility.

Philippe’s teaching was continually renewed by reflection and inquiry. A sabbatical and a summer spent living once again in France, rather than visiting, allowed him to reconnect with the language, political life and daily rhythms of his country of birth. Living with relatives, observing contemporary debates in the press and on television, traveling widely, and renewing long-standing family connections, he returned with sharpened insights into French culture and society that he brought back to his students. Particularly meaningful to him was time spent with extended family, including an elderly aunt whose vivid recollections connected him to an earlier France and deepened his sense of historical continuity. He expressed gratitude that this period allowed him not only to gather memories, but also to acquire knowledge and form considered opinions, qualities that marked his teaching throughout his career.

Philippe Thurneyssen died at age 96, on June 6, 2014, in Greensboro, Vermont. Through his years of service at Phillips Exeter Academy, his warmth, discipline and intellectual curiosity enriched the lives of all who knew him and set a standard of excellence for those who followed.