In Memoriam: John Bonner, Ben Primer

Published March 11, 2019

Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications

IN MEMORIAM: Biology professor emeritus JOHN BONNER died Feb. 7 in Portland, Ore. He was 98. Bonner joined the faculty in 1947, serving three times as chair of the biology department. After becoming emeritus in 1990, he continued his research for more than two decades at Princeton and in Oregon.

Bonner devoted most of his life to studying cellular slime molds. He published 20 books on their behavior as well as on broader themes in evolutionary biology — the last of which, Randomness in Evolution, was published when he was 93. He received an honorary degree from Princeton in 2006.

Friends of the Princeton University Library

IN MEMORIAM: BEN PRIMER, former associate university librarian for rare books and special collections, died Feb. 11 in Princeton after a long illness. He worked in the University Library for 25 years, beginning in 1990 as the curator of public-policy papers and then for a decade as University archivist, expanding access to Mudd Library’s holdings and widening its collections. He served as associate university librarian from 2002 to 2014, playing a role in planning the Firestone Library renovations and invigorating the Friends of the Princeton University Library.

Published in the March 20, 2019, Issue

In Memoriam

2 Responses

George K. Russell ’59

5 Years Ago

Bonner’s Influence

I recently found my copy of John Bonner’s autobiographical book, Lives of a Biologist, in our cellar and read it the following weekend. The book produced a flood of memories of my time at Princeton and my association with John, above left, both as my senior-thesis adviser and later as my department chair in the (then) biology department. But this was followed by the news that he had died (In Memoriam, March 20). With all of this,
I was strongly reminded how much
I cared for John’s friendship, his tutelage in so many different ways, and his serving as a genuine example of what it means to be a worthy human being.

John spent 1957–58 in Edinburgh and was tempted to apply for a senior position in botany at the university. But Princeton offered him the rank of full professor, and he returned. In the fall of 1958 I chose him for my senior-thesis project on spore germination in Dictyostelium. This produced a short article in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Society, and I was pleased to see my name as co-author. Had John decided to leave Princeton, the course of my life would have taken a very different turn.

Perhaps my point is this: There are important junctures in one’s life where teachers (and others) can exert enormous influence and guidance. For me, John Bonner — one of the true giants in Princeton’s history — stood at one of those juncture points. If I can say this appropriately, I loved him for what he was, a most remarkable man, a wonderful teacher, and a very important person in my life.

Photo: University Archives, Princeton University Library

Nick Cohen ’59

5 Years Ago

Shared Enthusiasm

George Russell '59's comments (PAW, April 24) about the critical role Professor John Bonner played in his life echo my thoughts about this brilliant academician. Simply stated, Dr. Bonner and my own thesis adviser, Dr. Fankhauser, were responsible for my choosing to apply to graduate school in biology and then becoming a member of the professoriate. I can only hope that I have shared my enthusiasm for knowledge with my students as John Bonner did for his.