John George Kemeney ’46

JOHN KEMENEY '46 *49 h7l, distinguished mathematician, president of Dartmouth College, and creator of the computer language BASIC, died Dec. 26, 1992. He was 66.

Born in Hungary on May 31, 1926, he came to the U.S. with his parents in 1940 and entered George Washington H.S. in NYC. He graduated three years later at the top of his class.

John entered Princeton in 1943, became a U.S. citizen in 1945, and received his bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1946. In 194546, he also served as an assistant on the theoretical team at Los Alamos, N.Mex. He did his graduate studies at Princeton.

In 1947, John was appointed a research assistant to Albert Einstein; he was awarded his doctorate in 1949. At 27, he was made a full professor of mathematics at Dartmouth; he became department chairman two years later. At age 43, John was named president of Dartmouth, a post he held for I I years; after which he returned to teaching until 1990. In 1971, Princeton awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

He is survived by his widow, jean; two children, Jennifer and Robert; and two grandchildren. We extend to Mrs. Kemeney and the entire family our deepest sympathy in the loss of this giant in academia.

The Class of 1946