John Blair Insley Pyne ’42 *50

Insley died Sept. 5, 1998, at Capital Health System Fuld Hospital in Ewing, N.J. He was retired Princeton professor of physics and electrical engineering.

He prepared for Princeton at Brooks School, leaving to join the Navy after war was declared. He served as a carrier-based SBD Dauntless dive bomber pilot, operating from the USS Essex, in the Pacific theater. He attained the rank of lieutenant and was awarded three DFCs, six Air Medals, a Presidential Unit Citation, and a Navy Unit Citation.

Returning to Princeton after the war, he received a BS in physics and an MS in electrical engineering. Joining the faculty, he helped develop the university's first computer center. His seminal paper on "Linear Programming on an Analog Computer," published in 1956, garnered international recognition for advancing computer theory. Insley was also a passionate musician and sang opera roles in Germany and the U.S. He was proficient in German, French, and Italian.

He is survived by his wife, Marguerite; three sons, Russell, Lawrence, and John Jr.; and by eight grandchildren, to whom the class offers its most sincere sympathies.

The Class of 1942