John E. Packard III ’54

Jack died Feb. 2, 2019.

Jack’s father, John II, was in the Class of 1928. Jack graduated from Marblehead (Mass.) High School. At Princeton he majored in French and in the Special Program in European Civilization, writing his senior thesis on existentialism. He was a member of Cap and Gown. After graduation he served in the Navy for three years.

Jack enjoyed a 40-year career in the restaurant-supply industry. At the time of our 10th reunion, he was engaged in various Princeton efforts and wrote, performed, and served as president of Washington’s Hexagon Club — modeled after the Triangle Club. It was established in 1955 for the purpose of presenting an annual original musical-comedy revue with proceeds going to charity.

For our 50th-reunion yearbook, he wrote that he was “comfortably retired, having had a modest amount of success in the world of commerce and my chosen field of athletic endeavor, having won a couple of national senior doubles championships in platform tennis in the ’70s.”

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Barbara; daughters Donna Packard LaChance ’79 and Debbie Kennedy; son Dean Packard; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.