John T. Wainwright ’54

Jack died Feb. 2, 2018, after some years with Parkinson’s-like syndrome.

He came to us from St. Paul’s School. At Princeton he took a two-year military leave between his sophomore and junior years, declaring, “to my good fortune … allowing a heightened experience of all that Princeton offers.” He majored in politics, joined Elm Club, and graduated with honors in 1957.

After earning a law degree from the University of Virginia, he worked for the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy and later, Robert Kennedy; in the U.S. Agency for International Development; and in the State Department before entering private practice. He worked to free political prisoners, both while in government and in private practice, including some Americans held in Cuban prisons. His father had died in Cuban waters eight months before his birth while trying to rescue the U.S. consul in Havana and his wife, who had been swept away by a wave in Matanzas Bay.

Jack married Catherine in 1988. They were adventurous world travelers, and he was an avid bird-watcher. Until five days before his death he would fall asleep with a bird book, a history book, or a book of poetry in his hands.

The class extends its condolences to Catherine; his sons, Andrew and Peter; and to his three grandchildren.