Jack G. Collins ’52

Jack came to Princeton from high school in Waukegan, Ill. He was in NROTC, majored in the School of Public and International Affairs, and was a member of Dial Lodge. In the Navy he served as an Underway Officer of the Deck on the U.S.S. Princeton and then as a member of an admiral’s staff. After leaving the Navy, he attended Harvard Law School from which he graduated in 1958.

Jack became law clerk to the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and then an assistant U.S. attorney in Portland. He specialized in representing the United States in complex cases, many of which secured the rights of Native American tribes or protected the environment. In his spare time he taught at two law schools in Portland and wrote poetry.

Jack died July 30, 2010, of complications from hepatitis, which he contracted in the Navy. His wife of 53 years, the former Janine Decker of Waukegan, followed him in death in January 2011. He is survived by three children, Douglas A. Collins, Christine Collins Christiansen, and Julie Collins Zadoo; and four grandchildren. To them, the class sends its condolences.