John A. Spanogle ’57

Although Andy realized in his junior year at Princeton that he’d prefer some career other than engineering, he graduated as one, and then attended the University of Chicago Law School. He liked law so much he decided he’d like to help others like it. So in 1964 he helped found a law school in Maine. He taught law for 54 years, mostly at George Washington University Law. Andy specialized in international commercial law, writing 10 books on the subject, one of them long in print as a law school textbook.

He matriculated at Princeton in 1952. Illness held him back a year. Andy joined Cloister Inn and was a member of the Debate Team and the Engineering Council. He was a lay leader in the Episcopal church most places where he lived and sang bass in their choirs.

He nursed his first wife, Pamela, through six years of dementia. Eight years after she died, he married Karen Bennett, a retired professor of biology, and for six years a widow. They had been married for six years when Andy died Dec. 18, 2020, his 86th birthday, of congestive heart failure, at home with his grandchild present. Besides Karen, he is survived by two daughters, his grandchild, and three stepchildren and their families. Andy was kind and gentle, invariably upbeat, and liked by many including generations of students and fellow faculty.