Arthur T. Hadley 2nd, a decorated World War II veteran, writer and journalist, died on Nov. 25 at the age of 91. 

He was the son of Morris and Katherine Hadley and the grandson of Arthur Hadley, president of Yale University. At the age of 18 in 1942, after graduating from Groton, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and saw combat in the European theatre. He was severely wounded in the final stages of the war and retired from the Army as a captain and tank officer, having been awarded both the Purple Heart and the Silver Star.

He went on to Yale University, graduating in three years as a Scholar of the House, magna cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation in 1949, he joined Newsweek, where he covered the Pentagon during the Korean War and later the White House in the last year of the Truman administration and first term of the Eisenhower administration. He was assistant executive editor of the New York Herald Tribune, and won several prizes for his magazine reporting from Viet Nam. He later became Washington bureau chief of the New Times magazine. He is the author of numerous magazine articles, two plays, and 10 books, including The Straw Giant and The Nation’s Safety and Arms Control. He was press secretary to three Democratic presidential candidates during their primary campaigns, and is a founding member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

An avid fisherman, he made his Island home on Homer’s Pond, where he could pursue his writing in tranquility. He served as an elected official on the planning board in West Tisbury, and was a volunteer fireman. In 1990, he deeded 50 acres of land to The Trustees of Reservations for the Long Point Wildlife Refuge, including significant beach and pond frontage.

Arthur was predeceased by his beloved wife, Jane Byington Hadley. Three other marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by his sister Barbara Stanton, his children Arthur, Kate Baker, George, Nicholas, Elisabeth Wheeler, and Caroline Thies, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Jan. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Century Association of New York.