James Townsend Peirce ’36

Jim died July 10, 1998, of complications after heart surgery. After graduating from The Hill School, at Princeton he majored in economics and took a mathematics course taught by Albert Einstein. He rowed crew and was a member of Cap and Gown. He also attended the Pennsylvania School of Animal Husbandry.

During WWII, he commanded a Navy sub-chaser on convoy duty in the Atlantic and Caribbean theaters. Near the end of his six-year tour of duty he studied the Japanese language at the U. of Michigan and volunteered for duty with the Fifth Amphibious Corps during the occupation of Japan. He received two commendations and retired as a lieutenant commander.

After the war he was a dairy farmer until he sold out in 1958. He then moved to Annapolis, Md., where he owned a yacht sales company and a marine insurance brokerage. An excellent sailor and navigator, Jim sailed in the Newport, Mackinac, and Bermuda races.

He is survived by his first wife, Mrs. Vaudine H. Biermann, whom he married in 1940; a son, James T. Jr.; daughters Agnes V.P. Porter and Caroline A.P. Scheetz; a sister, Susanna P. Buie; a brother, W. Burke; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. He is buried in Arlington Natl. Cemetery next to his father. Jim will indeed be missed by his friends in the class.

The Class of 1936