John C. Kinder ’45

The class lost a blithe spirit March 8, 2012, when John died at the age of 88.

John was a graduate of Gilman School, where he was a state champion wrestler. At Princeton he followed in the footsteps of his brothers, George ’36 and Gordon ’41. He joined Ivy Club and an ROTC Field Artillery unit later commissioned at Fort Sill, Okla.

Before leaving for the service John took his tank of tropical fish to the Princeton barber for safekeeping. Mrs. Harold Dodds encountered him en route and asked what he was doing. John’s reply, without explanation, was, “I am taking my fish to the barber!”

John served in the Philippines and in the occupation of Japan, returning on a ship from Yokosuka Naval Base to Seattle in 1946 with several of his classmates. John graduated in 1947 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1950. After a brief law practice in New York, he had a distinguished legal career with the family firm of Kinder, Kinder & Kinder in Martins Ferry, Ohio.

He is survived by his wife, the former Harriet Whitaker (daughter of George ’13); sons Dyche ’76 and Duncan ’78; and his daughter, Elizabeth, to all of whom the class extends its sympathy.