John H. Arens ’60

John came to Princeton from the Cate School in Carpinteria, Calif. With us, he joined the sailing team (his first love) and Terrace Club. John left in 1959 and enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, serving in California. He later earned a bachelor’s degree at Whittier College in 1962 and an MBA at Long Beach State University in 1969. He spent most of his career in partnership with his father, founding CCS Corp., which became a major factor in the coupon-redemption business. John became president in 1985. 

He pursued cruising and racing sailing on the West Coast and Denmark (wife Karen’s native home) while working and raising two sons. In 1992 John and Karen began a four-year sailing cruise of the Mediterranean. Exhilarated by that experience, in 1998 they undertook a multi-year tour of the Caribbean and the U.S. eastern coast, through the Intercoastal Waterway and to other ports.

Predeceased just months earlier by Karen, John died of a heart attack Jan. 13, 2021. Their two sons, families, and five grandchildren survive them.