Lyn W. Edinger ’70

Lyn died July 21, 2012, at his home in Burlington, N.Y.

Lyn was born in Syracuse and attended high school in Albany. At Princeton he was an honors student in history. After graduation, Lyn joined Princeton-in-Asia and traveled to Nanyang University, where he taught for three years and became fluent in Mandarin. This experience led him to become the class’s “Old China Hand,” pursuing his career in the Far East.

Lyn started out with Extel Corp. covering China, Singapore, Taiwan, Burma, Indonesia, India, Korea, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. In 1983 he entered the Foreign Service, first as a senior commercial officer in Hong Kong and later in a similar position in Beijing. During the protests in June 1989, Lyn was sent into the crisis area in and around Tiananmen Square to assess events and to locate and evacuate American citizens. His work there earned him a presidential commendation for his bravery, his actions being described as “brilliant and courageous.”

Lyn returned to private business in 1989 and held a series of increasingly responsible positions with Honeywell and Northern Telecom in Hong Kong and Nortel World Trade in London and later North Carolina. He retired in 2003.

To his wife, Corinne Plummer, and his son, Owen Tanner, the class sends sympathy.