John E. Hayden ’62

John died Nov. 10, 2015, in Buffalo, N.Y., four days before his 75th birthday.

He came to Princeton from McDowell High School in Erie, Pa. — and Andy Conner remembers him fondly from there. John majored in English at Princeton.

He worked for Monarch Electric and Federal Pacific Electric, becoming its youngest district manager. John went to work for GTE Sylvania but returned to FPE as a marketing manager in Newark. He later moved back to Buffalo, where he started a manufacturers’ rep business, Hayden Electrical Systems, which covered western New York. Subsequently, John created a separate manufacturing company, producing customized products.

His hobbies included collecting Leica cameras and other photographic equipment and Formula One racing. John was president of the Leica Historical Society of America. He owned specialized cars, including Nissan GT-Rs. John served on the Princeton Schools Committee in recent years.

John had two sons from his first marriage. He met his second wife, Susan, in 1975. Susan said that he liked to quote Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress — “The grave’s a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.”

The class extends its sympathy to Susan; sons James and Mathew; stepdaughter Greta; and five grandchildren.