Wayne E. Harding Jr. ’45

Wayne Harding died Feb. 14, 2012.

He entered Princeton from Exeter and joined Tiger Inn. Wayne captained the football team, was president of the class, and received an accelerated engineering degree in 1944. He was commissioned as a Navy fighter pilot, and upon his discharge, he joined Chance Vought in Stratford, Conn., as a test pilot.

Wayne married Nancy Gean in 1948. He founded and became president of Harding Glass, later founding Harding Steel.

In 1980, Wayne authored a nonfiction book about salesmanship. Twenty years later he published two novels concerning the adventures of a test pilot and activities in the business world.

Nancy predeceased Wayne in 2000. He married Valerie Warner, who survives him along with his sons, Wayne III, Wesley, and Phillip; daughters Lan and Darra; 13 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. The class expresses its sympathy to the family.