#6 Mark Stout (LH 76-79) and Nancy Kraus Stout (WGH 77-79)

Mark was studying for a PhD in politics from the LSE. Nancy was researching medieval art history for her graduate program at Boston University. After meeting and falling in love, Mark and Nancy were given an engagement party in the Churchill Room by their Mecklenburgh Square friends. In the summer of 1979, they returned to the States and got married.

Mark went on to have a career in transportation policy and planning, retiring as Assistant Commissioner for Planning at the New Jersey Department of Planning. He continues to have a private consulting practice, primarily serving environmental and advocacy groups.

Nancy pursued a career in art history, recently retiring as the Director of Development at the Princeton University Art Museum.

Some of Mark and Nancy’s fondest memories are:

• Mark serving as Chairman of the London House Club Committee, where he was granted lifetime club membership for his service.
• Nancy working as a barmaid at the Willy G bar (getting at least one good customer in Mark!)
• The 1977 Silver Jubilee Ball in the Great Hall, where Mark recalls the graduates got kitted out in Moss Bros for a wonderful celebration.
• Reading the infamous Mecklenburgh Review (Bastard), a short-lived and purposely scandalous gossip sheet, intended to mimic Private Eye.
• Associate Director Roger Pawle stirring up enthusiasm for the London House rugby team.
• Mark working as an intern for the late Phillip Whitehead, MP. Mark and Nancy canvassed for him in his Derby South constituency in the 1979 general election, which he won by a whisker. Nobody on the doorstep seemed to mind their American accents!
• Mark and Nancy hosting an unusual event sponsored by the London House Club Committee, as a farewell to Maggie, a well-loved barmaid at the London House bar.
• And Mark can’t forget the occasional full English breakfast – including a ‘fried slice’ – at John’s Café in Lambs Conduit Street, a haunt of London cabbies.