John Smith Francis Jr ’35

Jay died Oct. 14, 2000. He graduated from Episcopal HS in Alexandria, Va., and at Princeton majored in economics, played basketball, sang in the Glee Club, and authored the "On the Campus" column for PAW. After graduation he went to Wall St. with Wood, Struthers & Co., for whom he would work for most of his business career.

He enlisted in the Army during WWII, and by summer 1945 he was captain, Office of Strategic Services, and transferred to the Far East (China-Burma-India) command. Later that year he returned to Wood, Struthers as a security analyst. He became research vice president and an officer of the Pine Street Fund before retiring in 1971. Then he and his wife, Mary, moved from Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., to Chapel Hill, N.C. Jay indulged his fascination with science and gadgetry — interests he shared at every opportunity with schoolchildren.

These interests, plus a lifelong delight in discussing wide-ranging political issues, continued after the Smiths moved to the Quadrangle in Haverford Township, Pa. Mary survives, as do sons John III '63 and David '68; daughters Mary D. Ryerson and Linda M. Smith-Shearer; and nine grandchildren, including Stephen Smith '84 and Peter Smith '90.

The Class of 1935