John Northrop ’45

Jack Northrop died March 28, 2009, at his home in La Jolla, Calif.

Jack attended Millbrook Academy. At Princeton, he joined Colonial Club, played varsity hockey, and rowed varsity crew. His years at Princeton were interrupted by service in the Air Force as an officer instructor, but he returned to Princeton to receive a  degree in geology in 1947.

Jack received a master’s degree in geology from Columbia before working at Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution, where he met his wife, Barbara, and at Hudson Labs. He then moved to La Jolla to join the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 1968 and then worked as a civilian researcher for the Naval Air Force in marine geophysics.

Jack was a skilled athlete and outdoorsman. He competed in tennis and sailing. After retirement, he rode horseback every day and worked to preserve open space and public trail access in San Diego.

Barbara died in 2006. Jack is survived by his children, John, Geoffrey, and Helen; three granddaughters; a great-granddaughter; and his sister, Alice. The class expresses its sympathy to the family.