Emmett Finlay Whittlesey ’45 *57

Fin Whittlesey died peacefully June 8, 2013, in the presence of his family.

Fin entered Princeton from Kimble Union Academy and joined Court Club. He started Princeton ma-joring in English but switched to mathematics and received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in 1948. A conscientious objector during the war, he served in the Civilian Public Service, working in soil conservation along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, as an orderly at Fairfield (Conn.) State Hospital, and on postwar relief ships to Poland and Germany. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at Princeton in 1957 under Albert Tucker *32. In his thesis he classified all finite two-dimensional complexes, which Tucker had thought was an unsolvable problem.

Finlay taught mathematics at Trinity College in Connecticut from 1954 until 1998, when he retired as Seabury Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. In 1962–63 he visited Princeton on a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship.

In 1961 he married Anne Woodruff Gwynn, who died in 1965. He married Betty Mae Navratil in 1966. Fin divided his retirement years between Hartford, Conn., and Maine. He rode his custom mountain bike daily year-round until his 88th year.

Fin is survived by Betty; his sons, Stan, Sandy, and Marshall; and a namesake grandson born last year. The class expresses its sympathy to the family.