John Atwater Bradley ’54

Brad died Feb. 23, 2021.

At Brooklyn (N.Y.) Technical High School he was active in student government, glee club, and swimming. At Princeton he majored in politics, sang in the freshman glee club and the Chapel Choir, rowed with the freshman crew, and joined Elm Club.

After two years of flight training in the Air Force he undertook graduate work in philosophy, law, and theology at Yale and Union Theological Seminary. He then launched a worldwide entrepreneurial career. He founded the Planning Research Corp.; raised funds and consulted for nonprofit institutions, business, industry, foundations, and governments; pooled management talent and investment capital; served as an officer and director of a handful of consulting firms, foundations, and corporations; and was appointed to an international arbitration tribunal at The Hague.

In 1965 Brad married Marilyn Monteith Bower. In the late 1960s he acquired tracts of forested land in the Hudson and Delaware valleys to preserve, protect, and manage them for profit on a “green and sustainable use” basis. 

He wrote, “My interests outside the office include walking a la Thoreau, canoeing, swimming, snorkeling, flying, skiing, photography, and conchology. My problem is that I have too many interests, but in the end I will lack no entertainment for retirement.” 

Brad is survived by his daughter, Camilla Kerr Bradley; and grandsons Jack Matheson Bradley and Boe Bardenheier. Marilyn and their twin sons David and Philip died in an automobile accident in 1978.