John Bordley Rawls ’43

Jack died at home on Nov. 24, 2002, following several years of declining health. He was 81 and held the title of University Professor Emeritus at Harvard.

A Baltimore native, Jack prepped at Kent School in Connecticut before coming to Princeton. He served for three years in the infantry in the Pacific theater during WWII, returning to study for his PhD in philosophy under the GI Bill.

After a brilliant teaching career at Princeton, Cornell, and MIT, Jack arrived at Harvard in 1962. He was to remain there for 29 years, until he retired in 1991. His writings on problems of justice and moral philosophy, including his masterful A Theory of Justice, are widely considered to be the most important contribution to political philosophy in the 20th century.

Jack is survived by his wife of 53 years, the former Margaret "Mardy" Warfield Fox; four children, Anne, Lee, Alexander, and Elizabeth; and four grandchildren. To the entire family, we extend our condolences.

The Class of 1943