Cresson Henry Kearny ’37

Cress died Dec. 18, 2003, in Montrose, Colo. He was 88.

The many achievements and honors he received during his life began at Princeton, where he graduated with highest honors in engineering, held the Jadwin Memorial Scholarship, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and became a Rhodes Scholar. At Oxford he received a degree in geology.

During World War II, Cress served in Panama, becoming an authority on jungle tactics, inventing 15 civil defense items still in use, receiving the Legion of Merit, and retiring as a lieutenant colonel. As consultant to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, he invented the wet suit in 1951 and the underwater spear gun. He joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where he invented shelters and devices to survive nuclear war, including the Kearny Fallout Meter, and wrote Nuclear War Survival Skills, which is still in print. Cress was a recipient of the Edward Teller Award for the Defense of Freedom, a civilian award for distinguished U.S. service.

His survivors included his wife of 60 years, Mary; son Cresson; daughters Adelia Wakeland, Diana Fosse, Susanna Eberle, and Stephanie Belcourt; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

We send our sincere sympathy to the family of this truly gifted and giving man.

The Class of 1937