Farish A. Jenkins Jr. ’61

We lost Farish Nov. 11, 2012, to complications following surgery for pancreatic cancer while also being treated for multiple myeloma.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Colorado and Rye, N.Y., Farish came to Princeton from Taft. At Princeton he majored in geology, ate at Campus, and roomed with Dave Marshall.

Following four years in the Marine Corps, he earned his Ph.D. in geology at Yale and then taught human anatomy at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons for three years. After joining the Harvard faculty, he taught at both its medical school and College of Arts and Sciences and led annual expeditions into the field conducting paleontological research.

His New York Times obituary headline read, “Farish Jenkins, Expert on Evolving Fossils”   — which hardly does justice to his many academic achievements as a beloved teacher, occupant of several endowed chairs, researcher, and fossil discoverer. When home during the summers, he tended his beloved orchard of antique apple varieties in New Hampshire.

The son of Farish A. Jenkins ’38 and nephew of Henry E. Jenkins Jr. ’31, Farish is survived by his wife, Eleanor; brother H. Edgar Jenkins II; son Henry E. Jenkins III; a daughter, K. Temperance Leeds; and two granddaughters.