George C. Sponsler III ’49 *52

George prepared for Princeton at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C. At Princeton he majored in engineering physics. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude. He earned a Ph.D. from Princeton in electrical engineering in 1952, and also had a law degree from George Washington University. He was a member of SPIA and the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship.

During the 1950s, George worked with the Hoffman Science Center in Santa Barbara, Calif. In 1960, he moved to the Navy Bureau of Ships as chief scientist.  

After working for IBM’s Federal Systems Division for a period, he became executive secretary of the division of engineering at the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council. George then founded his own business, Law, Mathematics, and Technology, which dealt with science-policy analysis. He was a congressional fellow on the staff of Illinois Sen. Paul Simon, and served as chairman of Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign science-policy task force.

George is survived by his wife, Bridget; his children, Freda Jennings-Ellinghaus, Naomi Bechtold, and Curtis; and 10 grandchildren. The class sends deepest sympathy to them.