Francis E. Gaskins III ’65

Francis died Feb. 22, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif., of myelofibrosis.

He came to us from South Salem High in Salem, Ore., where he was born and raised. At Princeton he majored in economics, played violin, and belonged to Triangle Club while taking his meals at Key and Seal. He later received an MBA from Harvard.

Always entrepreneurial, Francis co-founded a computer-based training company and a project-management software company before settling in as founder and president of IPO Desktop.com, named by Forbes magazine as one of the “Best IPO Sites.” In recent years he was prominent in the IPO-analysis field, appearing at numerous financial conferences and on many television news programs involving the money world.

He continued his violin work as first violin in the Santa Monica Symphony and concertmaster of the Palisades Symphony, with sidelines in Chinese, Irish, and Cajun-Zydeco music. He also participated in triathlons, numerous outdoor and water sports, and was certified in turbo-kickboxing.

Francis is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter Courtney; and brother Peter, who remember him as a man of exceptional courage and a wonderful sense of humor. He touched many lives and will be remembered with great warmth and fondness.