John W. Willson IV ’48

John was born Dec. 22, 1926, in Reading, Pa., and came to Princeton from the Lawrenceville School.

His entire business career was in airline travel management and travel consulting. Directly out of college he started with W.R. Grace & Co. in New York City. He soon moved to management and sales for Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) in Lima, Peru.

When Panagra joined Braniff Airways in 1967, John was made the Braniff station manager in Santiago, Chile.

In 1973, when the political climate in Chile became dangerous, the family relocated to Dallas, Texas, where John joined Braniff headquarters management.

A few years later when Braniff went bankrupt and out of business, John created his own worldwide travel consultancy, with an international clientele. That continued until he became terminally ill with Parkinson’s disease.

Beginning in 2010 he lived at Presbyterian Village, a managed-care facility in Dallas. He died there May 17, 2012.

John was survived by his wife, Pat; their daughter, Elizabeth; their sons, John V and Josh; six grandchildren; one great-grandson; and his sister, Lillian.