Norman J. Asher ’43

Norm died May 12, 2015, five days after his 94th birthday.

He lived most of his life in Washington, D.C., where he attended St. Albans School. At Princeton, Norm majored in aeronautical engineering and was a member of Tower Club. He also became an expert pilot through the civil aeronautics program on campus. After Pearl Harbor he accelerated his studies, finishing in December 1942. He spent World War II in the Army Air Corps as a B-24 pilot.

Norm’s wide-ranging career included helping to start an airline in Colombia using retrofitted surplus Navy bombers; surviving the crash of a new helicopter model as a test pilot; flying combat operations with the French army in Algeria; and leading an economic analysis of our country’s supersonic transport research and development program. His report, which predicted huge losses for the American taxpayer, was used to get the program killed in Congress.

Survivors include daughter Caroline Walker; sons Blaine, Norman ’77, and John; and 10 grandchildren.