John Albert Cochran ’51

John died Sept. 15, 2006, of a heart attack. His health was poor in recent years as a result of a series of strokes.

He was born Sept. 25, 1928, in Buffalo and raised in Sheffield, Pa., where his father was in the independent oil business. He came to Princeton from Phillips Andover. A geological engineering major, he was a member of Elm Club and roomed with Sprigg Duvall, Bill Godson, Guy Newland, and Jack Timberlake. He did his graduate work at Penn State, where he met and married Elaine Bush in 1961. In the interim, from 1955 to 1958 he served as a combat officer in the Navy’s Airborne Early Warning Program.

On completing his master’s in mineralogy, John began a full-time career in education in 1961 as chairman of the science department at Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio. In 1980 he retired as assistant headmaster and chairman of the science department at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore. Thereafter he returned to the oil business in northwestern Pennsylvania.

John is survived by Elaine; their sons, John and Ross; and grandchildren Clay, Madeline, Will, and Andrew. Sprigg, Bill, and Reddy Finney attended his service at Roland Park Presbyterian Church.