In this season of loss, PAW offers its tribute to alumni whose lives ended last year. As we do each year, we hope these profiles provide inspiration, lessons, laughs, or just good memories. Because the pandemic prevents alumni from gathering on campus for Alumni Day, this year Princeton will hold the annual Service of Remembrance — which will honor Princetonians whose deaths were recorded in 2020 — at 3 p.m. Feb. 20. Visit here for details.
Gerald ‘Jerry’ P. Carr *62: From Afar, He Viewed Earth’s Fragility
Franklyn Allen ‘Tex’ Harris ’60: His Truth-Telling Kept America on the Right Side of History
Holly Lee Wiseman ’76: An Activist Committed To Causes — and Justice
Roger S. Berlind ’52: The Gent of Broadway
Robert Laughlin ’56: The Princeton Man of Zinacantán
William E.P. Tangney ’57: He Zested For A Life of Adventure
Karl Meyer *53 *56: He Chronicled An Era’s Biggest Events
William H. Danforth ’48: Champion of St. Louis
Paul S. Sarbanes ’54: A Senator Who Shunned the Spotlight
Leonard “Len” Brown ’71: His Service Began in the Community
Gregory R. Farrell ’57: He Viewed Education As a Great Adventure
Matt Herron ’53: A Journalist and Activist Who Kept Learning
Robby Browne ’71: His Door Was Always Open
Henry Martin ’48: He Made Us Laugh With Kindness
Faculty Tributes:
Professor John Conway, who died in April at age 82, is remembered by his biographer Siobban Roberts as the Princeton “mathemagician.” — The New York Times
Robert M. “Bob” May, who died in April at age 84, is remembered by colleagues as “a towering giant in science and science policy.” — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Phil Anderson, who died in March at age 96, is remembered by science writer John Horgan for inspiring “the fields of chaos and complexity.” — Scientific American
Bruce Blair, who died in July at age 72, was one of the foremost voices for a world safe from nuclear arms. — PAW
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Helen Park ’18 Launches ‘Kelp Pasta’ With Small Carbon Footprint
Park’s ‘seaghetti’ is low-calorie, gluten-free, vegan, and available from Amazon
Proposed Caps to NIH Funding Could Hamper Research at Princeton
‘Federal funding is the lifeblood of scientific research,’ wrote genomics professor Joshua Akey
2 Responses
Don Sessions ’58
3 Years AgoAppreciating Two Lives
What an interesting juxtaposition of two people I knew personally in the February 2021 Lives issue: There was Bill Danforth ’48, my previous colleague and later chancellor of my Washington University Medical School (and brother of Jack Danforth in my Class of ’58). And there was Bill Tangney of the Class of ’57.
Tangs was the social leader of our group in the Rockefeller Suite. Nobody who knew and loved Tangs was ever surprised by what came next. One Saturday afternoon in the spring, after a suitable amount of adult beverages, Tangs supervised the moving of our ancient upright piano down three flights to the courtyard. With nothing but his muse to guide him he removed all the keys that were unnecessary to play his favorite song. In no time Tangs was playing the “Limehouse Blues,” the only song that our beloved piano could thus play. Several days later Tangs led the party around the bonfire that sent the piano on to its next life.
Both of these Tigers made my life better for knowing them. For the long haul we would all choose “Chan Dan.” But for the short haul, and for the unforgettable magic of life unfettered with reason, Bill Tangney was the guy.
Charles S. Rockey Jr. ’57
3 Years AgoOther Notable Lives
In the otherwise excellent “Lives Lived and Lost,” I was disappointed that none of our fellow veterans were mentioned.
Edward Cissel ’43 landed on Utah Beach at Normandy on D-Day and rose to captain in the field artillery. An educator in civilian life, Ed served as headmaster of John Burroughs School in St. Louis for 19 years.
In 1967 in Vietnam, Capt. Henry C. Stackpole ’57 nearly died twice in surgery from wounds he suffered. Later a lieutenant general, he commanded an international rescue mission in Bangladesh, which had suffered massive flooding.