Duncan died of lung cancer Jan. 20, 2009, at his home in Hanover, Pa.
Duncan graduated from St. Andrew’s School in Delaware in 1944. He then enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific aboard a destroyer in the 7th Fleet. Following in the footsteps of his father, who was in the Class of 1919, Duncan came to Princeton, where he belonged to Quadrangle Club and studied psychology.
While a member of the neurobiology team at the University of Maryland, he studied biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, earning a master’s degree in 1973. He worked for more than three decades in the fields of brain, cancer, and infant-development research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He first retired in 1989, but then agreed to become research coordinator in the Center of Infant Study, where he stayed until 1996.
Except for his last few years when he lived in Pennsylvania, Duncan was a lifelong resident of Maryland. His interests ranged from classical music and reading to Maryland history and vintage automobiles.
Our condolences go to his wife of 14 years, the former Beth Fuller Dawson; his two sisters; and many nieces and nephews.