John F. Rockart ’53

Jack died Feb. 3, 2014, from complications of pneumonia.

At Princeton, he majored in SPIA and was president of Campus Club. His friendship with his roommates, Jim Withey (a friend from age 10), Rob Kenagy, and Walt Gamble — all Campus Club members — never faded. All three were at Jack’s memorial service.

Jack grew up in Yonkers, N.Y. Following Princeton and three years in the Navy, he received an MBA from Harvard. He met his future wife, Elise, while both worked for IBM. They married and spent an extraordinary two years in Kenya.

Jack earned a Ph.D. from MIT, co-founded MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), and developed critical success factors, a method widely used by corporations and consultants. He was vice chairman of the board and chairman of the Quality of Care Committee at Tufts Medical Center for almost 30 years.

He continued in these positions and remained active with CISR until his death. Besides Elise, he is survived by his children, Liesl and Scott ’90, and three granddaughters. Regarding our learned and compassionate classmate, Jim Withey said that Jack was “mature, focused, loyal, and interested in everyone around him.”