John Jay Madeira ’44

Jay died Oct. 5, 2006, in Falmouth, Maine, near the sea he loved.

His joy of living was broad and long. His aunt was founder of the the Madeira School. He prepped at Deerfield Academy and left us in 1943 to serve with the 8th Air Force as a navigator. Jay flew 55 missions over Europe, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and several medals and battle stars. Parachuting into France, he once was reported missing.

Jay returned for his economics degree in 1947, and was business manager of the Daily Princetonian and a trustee of Cloister Inn, and rowed on the 150-pound crew. His roommates were Paul Windels, Phil von Hemert, Bill Moran, Tom Sowden, and Pete Hazelwood. He met his late wife, Kitty, on a blind date at a Princeton-Yale game.

During his early business career, he founded our schools committee in the Hartford, Conn., area and was president of the Connecticut Valley Princeton Alumni Association. Later, he sailed the coast of Maine with the Portland Yacht Club and climbed with the Appalachian Mountain Club, serving as an officer in each. He took up the four-string banjo late in life and mastered it enough to perform professionally.

To his four sons, Peter, Tim, Matt, and Fred Madeira, and their families: We’ll miss him, too.