John Gedroice Powers ’38

John died Sept. 2, 1999, of complications arising from cancer of the tongue.

He was born in Mount Vernon and graduated from Pleasantville H.S., both in Westchester County, N.Y. He was on the tennis and rifle teams.

At Princeton, he roomed with Jack Kemp Busby, Dick Glenn, and Ted Starr. He joined Tower Club, Triangle Club, and majored in philosophy. With Ralph Mengel, he formed the pioneering Princeton Tigers undergraduate dance band. Later, his saxophone was a mainstay of our Eightball dance band, long a reunion fixture.

After earning his LLB at Harvard, John practiced in NYC. In 1943, he joined Prentice Hall as general counsel and was pres. from 1954-64.

He later became a trustee of the Denver Art Museum and the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and a member of the Harvard Fine Arts and East Asia visiting committees. A collector of and lecturer on Japanese art, he received an honorary degree from Colorado State U.

John and his first wife, Elaine P. Ettinger, were divorced after having two daughters, Jean (deceased) and Lynn, and a son, John. The class extends sympathy to Kimiko, John's wife of 34 years, his children, and four grandchildren.

The Class of 1938