John W. Mowinckel ’43
John died May 7, 2003, at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla.; he was 82.
Born in Genoa, he grew up in Italy and France. He attended Le Rosey School in Switzerland and St. Paul's School in New Hampshire before coming to Princeton.
During WWII, John served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, assigned to the Office of Strategic Services. He landed at Omaha Beach, participated in the liberation of Paris, and earned Silver and Bronze Stars as well as the Croix de Guerre.
John spent most of his professional life in the diplomatic service in Rome; Washington, DC; Kinshasa, Zaire; and Rio de Janeiro. His last posting was to the US embassy in Vienna. John also was a journalist and businessman who lived in Paris before retiring to Florida.
He is survived by his wife, the former Letizia Crostarosa; a son, John; and two grandchildren. To the survivors, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies.
The Class of 1943
Paw in print
July 2026
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Jeff Farrell
6 Days AgoRemembering John
I’d like to say that John Mowinkel was a friend, but I only saw him a couple of times. I had been in the Rome Olympics and decided to stay in Europe and learn some foreign languages, starting with French. He was the active “cultural affairs” officer in our embassy (also was in CIA) and I asked him how I could learn French quickly. He said that the Sorbonne University in Paris had a program of teaching foreigners how to teach French, and this could be a good way to learn French because the students would probably not yet be fluent so would also be “improving” their knowledge of the language, but at a fast pace. I took his advice and it worked. Years later we were living in the same neighborhood in France and I ran into him. (That’s a rather funny expression, isn’t it?) And I was able to meet him and get his advice on another subject.