John S. Warriner ’47

John Warriner died July 27, 2013. He was living in Watsonville, Calif., with his wife, Jane.

John prepped at St. Mark’s before coming to Princeton in 1943. During the war he served the Army Infantry and was awarded a Bronze Star for heroism in France.

Returning to Princeton, he married recent Smith graduate Jane (“Ricky”) Cunningham in 1949, and they lived in the Princeton Community Players house. A geology major, John graduated in 1950.

His first two jobs were in gold mining, first in Perron, Quebec, then in Grass Valley, Calif. When the California gold-mining business was near collapse, John started Fearon Publishing in San Francisco, which produced teachers’ aids and textbooks for California schools.

John retired in 1977, moved to Watsonville, and devoted full time to birding. He was involved in a research project for a threatened shorebird, the snowy plover. He was co-compiler of the Moss Landing Christmas bird count, and also a founding board member of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation.

His love of nature, birding, and travel sent John and Ricky all over the world — Africa, Central and South America, New Zealand, and Australia, to name a few destinations.

John is remembered for his intellect, love of books, quick wit, and generosity. The class sends sympathy to Ricky and their two daughters.