John L. Norton ’55

John was born Jan. 10, 1934, in Orange, N.J., and died Feb. 6, 2015, of Alzheimer’s disease.

After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, John chose to major in electrical engineering at Princeton. He was a member of Cloister Inn. After earning a master’s degree from MIT, he was employed as a software engineer for 55 years.

Hans Kuehl ’55 believed John to have been the most brilliant member of the engineering class. Others lauded John for his brilliant mind and the ability to use it for the benefit of his mission. The Hubble Science Telescope Program would never have achieved its scientific successes so early in its mission without John’s instrument notebooks. His mental ability and persistence toward excellence led others to understand how to operate these complex instruments. The scientists may not have known it, but many of them owed their findings to John.

Survived by wife Susann and many relatives, John owed special thanks to caregiver/companion Hermie Mamaradlo. The class sends its admiration and sorrow for this loss.