William C. Purple Jr. ’47

Bill died Dec. 25, 2012, in Orlando, Fla., while visiting family. His home for the past several years had been Hilton Head Island.

Bill entered Princeton in November 1944 as a member of the V-12 program and graduated in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. While at Princeton he developed an association with Albert Einstein, and they met weekly to discuss scientific and worldly events. After graduation he joined Melpar Inc., an electronics-manufacturing firm where he became vice president and general manager.

In 1966, Bill was recruited by Bendix Corp. as a group vice president in its aerospace section. In 1983, Bendix was acquired by Allied Corp., which became Allied-Signal in 1986. Bill served as executive vice president of Allied-Signal and president of the Bendix aerospace sector with responsibility for overall operations of 20 diverse high-technology divisions. He was a member of the Bendix Corp. board of directors from 1975 to 1983 and was honored as Bendix “Man of the Year” three times. He retired in 1991.

Bill enjoyed golf, tennis, and other activities but also found time to travel extensively. Our distinguished classmate is survived by his wife, Andrea; two sons; four daughters; a stepson; 13 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and his brother, Robert Purple.