James C. Cross ’66

Jay died Nov. 6, 2015, at his home in Berkeley, Calif.

Jay liked to point out that he and Bill Clinton were born in the same room in Hope, Ark. At Princeton, he majored in sociology and belonged to Charter Club. After graduation, he served in the Army from 1968 to 1970, stationed primarily in Germany. In May 1970, the month of his discharge, Jay married Uta Bawey in Heidelberg.

Although he was the product of a highly formal education — St. George’s School in Newport, R.I., the Paris-American High School in France, Princeton, and then Harvard Business School — Jay became internationally known as a leader in the field of informal education. He initially used the term “informal learning,” but later abandoned it in favor of “working smarter.”

Jay wrote numerous books on the subject, including Real Learning, Informal Learning, Working Smarter Fieldbook, and Implementing E-Learning. For nearly a decade he wrote the “Effectiveness” column for Chief Learning Officer magazine. Jay is credited with coining the term “eLearning,” and he designed the first business-degree program offered by the University of Phoenix.

The class extends its heartfelt condolences to Uta and to Jay’s sons, James III and Austin.