John L. Armitage ’38

John Armitage died May 14, 2013, in Middletown, Conn., at the age of 96.

Army prepared for Princeton at the Lawrenceville School. While at Princeton he met Karen Marie de Chambaud Conze when she was 16. They were married in 1939; their marriage lasted 55 years until her death in 1994.

Army majored in economics and was a member of Cannon Club. He played on the freshman football team, where he earned numerals, and on the scrub football team his sophomore, junior, and senior years. He rowed on the freshman second crew and the third varsity crew. He roomed at 141 Pyne all four years: his first year with Barzaghi; second year with Barzaghi, Creamer, and Toll; and his third and fourth years with Barzaghi and Creamer.

After graduation he went to work for the family company, John L. Armitage & Co., in Newark, N.J., which was started by his grandfather in 1876. Soon after Pearl Harbor he left the family business to serve as an officer in the Army Chemical Warfare Service from 1942 to 1946. When Army returned in 1949 he became president of the business until he retired in 1982 and was succeeded by his son, Norman.

John is survived by four children; 12 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren, to all of whom the class extends its heartfelt sympathy.