Robert B. Ruff ’49

Bob died May 23, 2016, at the Center For Hope Hospice in Scotch Plains, N.J.

Bob came to Princeton from Newark, N.J., majored in chemistry, and graduated in 1949. We know very little about his undergraduate years, but he went to work immediately afterward for P. Ballantine and Sons, the well-known New Jersey brewery. In 1950, like many ’49ers of a certain age, Bob enlisted in the Army, expecting to be sent to Korea. After two years of being shuttled around (everywhere but Korea, it would seem), Bob left the service and took a job as a research chemist with DuPont in Wilmington, Del. The company subsequently transferred him to Parlin, N.J., and he stayed there until retirement in 1985. His primary research was with medical, lithographic, and X-ray films.

In Bob’s own words, he suffered a “mild myocardial infarction” in 1983, but was able to continue with his work and his hobbies of golf, bowling, and photography until quite recently.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Ann; children Robert and Karen Sue Guss; and five grandchildren. We offer our sincere sympathy to his wife and family.