John W.A. Buyers ’52

A 1946 graduate of Stony Brook School on Long Island, Doc served in the Marines before entering Princeton. He majored in history and belonged to Cap and Gown. He was later a Sloan fellow at MIT, where he earned a master’s degree in industrial management in 1963 and received acclaim for his thesis on space communications.

Doc’s extraordinary career as a businessman and philanthropist began with Procter & Gamble and Bell Telephone, and took off when he became president and CEO of General Waterworks Corp. in Philadelphia. He moved to Hawaii to run C. Brewer & Co., of which he was chairman and CEO from 1975 to 2001 and eventual owner through a leveraged buyout with fellow Princetonians. He led what had been mainly a sugar company to world prominence in several fields, notably that of macadamia nuts. Among his philanthropic endeavors was helping fund Stony Brook State Park in Dansville, N.Y., and Buyers Hall at Princeton.  

Doc served on many charitable boards, received many awards, and was an elder in his church. He loved tennis and bridge. At the end he was lovingly cared for by his first wife, Elsie, and their three daughters.