William J. Barr ’39

BILL DIED Apr. 19, 1994, at the Princeton Medical Center. He had lived in Princeton since 1950, when he was named research associate assisting the direc­tor of Project Squid. He evaluated proposals and made grants to a group of universities and research organizations in the field of his expertise: combustion, fluid flow, heat transfer, turbulence, and jet propulsion. His career began with teaching after he received his M.A. in mathematics from Columbia. During WWII, he was a member of the staff in the wave-propagation section at the Naval Research Barnesville Laboratory. Then he joined Mathtech, formerly a division of Mathematica and a subsidiary of Martin Marietta, working in management science.     

Bill was not one to talk about his many achievements, but we know he was former president of the American Rocket Society's northern California section and was author of numerous scientific publications including "The Introduction of Methanol as a New Fuel in the United States Economy."    

Bill enjoyed his independence as a bachelor. He pursued not only his considerable intellectual interests, but also indulged competitive skills at poker and tennis and helped in any way he could backstage to make our class reunions a success. He is survived by nieces Joanne Dranginis and Sally Keenan, three grandnieces, and a grandnephew. We offer them our sincere sympathy.