John came to Princeton from Towson (Md.) High School as “a confirmed, antediluvian, right-wing Republican.” But when Eric Goldman assigned him to rewrite the Bill of Rights, he added two: the right to medical care and the right to a job. For his senior thesis he critically addressed the New Deal but ultimately embraced it, realized he was actually a confirmed liberal, and never looked back. A member of Tiger Inn, in 1958 he secretly married Mary Lambros and fathered son John in 1960. He went on to earn a master’s degree in teaching at Harvard in preparation for his chosen career in high school teaching.

John was dismissed for teaching the Bill of Rights in his teaching debut. He also participated in desegregation sit-ins, resisted the draft, joined the Congress of Racial Equality, and did some jail time. Moving to the Friends School in Baltimore from 1962 to 1970, he then became executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland from 1970 to 1979 and from 1981 to 1984. In 1984 he returned to his first love, teaching, at the Park School in Baltimore, where he remained until retirement in 2011.

John was an ardent marathoner, running coach, and judge; a keen outdoorsman; bluegrass and country music aficionado; and golden retriever owner/breeder.

He died Jan. 14, 2021, of complications of dementia. He is survived by Mary, son John IV, and daughter Lisa Marie.

Undergraduate Class of 1960