John Tyson ’27

John was born Jan. 4, 1904, in Englewood, N.J., and died Sept. 30, 2004. He was 100.

He joined our class in the midst of the fall semester of our freshman year, having been lured to Princeton from Lehigh University, and played football along with four brothers, one of whom was captain of the varsity team. He left Princeton during his freshman year.

After Princeton, John spent some years as an ordinary seaman on freight ships, as a fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and as a wool-picker on the Philadelphia docks, eventually joining Hutchinson and Rivinus (an insurance firm), of which he became a partner in 1936 and, later, general partner.

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, John volunteered for service in the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the CIA) and, dispatched to England, distinguished himself by establishing and running training schools for spies to be dropped behind enemy lines. For this work, he received the Order of the British Empire and the French Croix de Guerre.

John is survived by one of his three adopted sons, Christopher, to whom the class extends its condolences.

The Class of 1927