Ernest D. Pirman ’49

Ernest, known to some of us as “Jim,” died Nov. 9, 2015, in Brunswick, N.Y., a small community outside Albany.

Jim was born Dec. 14, 1928, in Brooklyn and came to Princeton from Poly Prep Country Day School. He majored in economics, joined Key and Seal, and was on the varsity wrestling and lacrosse teams.

After Princeton, his first job was with the Brooklyn Fire Brick Co., after which he joined the Navy, serving on the USS Sabine during the Korean War. We had little contact with Jim over the years, but we know that he earned a master’s degree in social work from SUNY Albany in 1970 and that he was a caseworker for the Rensselaer County Department of Social Services. He later became the director of the New York State Alternative to Incarceration Project, which was designed for youth under the age of 18.

Jim enjoyed hiking in the Adirondacks and was a longtime member of the Adirondack Mountain Club, chairing its whitewater committee for many years. As his Albany Times-Union obituary put it, “the Adirondacks were his paradise.”

Jim is survived by his daughters, Nancy Pirman-Weiss, Kimball P. Stewart, and Heidi P. DeGroff. We send our condolences to them all.