Elliot N. Pinson ’56

Elliot died June 9, 2025, after a distinguished career at Bell Laboratories.

He came to Princeton from Forest Hills High School, where he was captain of the varsity baseball team and treasurer of the honor society. At Princeton, Elliot held the Whiton Prize Scholarship, joined Court Club, majored in electrical engineering, and served as vice chairman of the Institute of Radio Engineers. Before his senior year, he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission at Sandia Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M.

After graduation, Elliot and Stephanie Lichtblau were married before moving to Cambridge, where Elliot earned an S.M. at MIT followed by a move to Pasadena for a Ph.D., from Caltech. Return to New Jersey followed with his work at Bell Telephone Laboratories Research Department on acoustics and speech including a classic text, The Speech Chain: The Physics and Biology of Spoken Language.

In New Jersey, Elliot enjoyed playing tennis and bridge with his wife, as well as New York’s theater, music, museums, and dining. Together they raised their daughters Jaymie Pinson Berger and Debra Pinson Boyman ’79. His wife predeceased him, but he is survived by his two daughters; sons-in-law Christopher Boyman ’80 and Doug Berger; grandchildren Michael, James, Laura, Nick, and Kathryn; and great-grandson Teddy.