John Penniman died Nov. 17, 2010, of congestive heart failure.
John prepared at Winchester (Mass.) High School. At Princeton, he majored in chemistry, joined Cannon Club, played tennis, and took his first creative writing class. John left Princeton in 1942 to join the Marines as a pilot, flying B-24s, Grumman Hellcats, and Corsair F4Us.
While in the Marines, he married Eleanor Kearney, and they eventually had five children. After obtaining a chemistry degree in 1947, John entered the paint industry and helped introduce latex paints in North America. Later he joined the paper industry, forming Paper Chemistry Consulting Laboratory Inc. in 1978, where he developed and patented papermaking equipment and technology and became a leader in the field of wet-end chemistry.
John was predeceased by Eleanor and by his eldest son, John. He is survived by his wife of 22 years, Rose Marie Hurrell; sons Peter and Paul Penniman; daughters Mary Penniman and Louise Rotholz; stepdaughters Mary and Susan Hurrell; his sister, Anne Ferguson; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. As one of his children commented, John was “an energetic, positive, and determined person who made people believe that things were possible and that the world is a good place to be.” The class extends its sympathy to the family.