Burton Paul ’53

Burt, an eminent engineer, professor, and scholar, who was born in Jersey City and attended Christopher Columbus High School, died Oct. 19, 2007, from amyloidosis, a rare and incurable disease. He had lived in Princeton for the previous 44 years.

As an undergraduate, he played freshman football, was associated with WPRU, and was a member of Prospect Club. After graduating magna cum laude in mechanical engineering, he went on to receive a master’s in engineering mechanics at Stanford and a Ph.D. in applied mechanics at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.

Burt joined the faculty at Brown University after marrying Lois Simon in 1958. Later he became the first chair of the department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at Penn, where he worked until retiring in 1996. His contributions to academia and industry became a great source of real-world knowledge to Penn students.

His gifted wife, Lois, a Hunter College graduate, worked as a computer programmer for Princeton’s Office of Population and Research. Burt’s death leaves a tremendous void in the lives of Lois and sons Jordan and Douglas. Also surviving are four grandchildren and Burt’s brothers, Jerome and Steven. We share their feelings.