William R. Starrett ’52

Bill Starrett died Aug. 30, 2004, at his home in Lincroft, N.J., from complications related to Parkinson’s disease and a fractured hip.

Born in Brooklyn, he came to Princeton on an RCA scholarship, belonged to Charter Club, and majored in electrical engineering. He worked in Commons for three years and was a research assistant as a senior.

After graduation Bill joined Scandia Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M. In 1955 he entered OCS in Newport, R.I., was commissioned as an ensign, and assigned to Naval Air Intelligence. He and Nancy Jill Vannote were married in February 1956. On their return to New Jersey in 1958, Bill entered training at Bell Telephone Labs and began a master’s program at New York University, which he completed in 1960.

His career at Bell Labs centered on engineering aspects of electric switching systems for telephones of the future. From 1978 until his retirement in 1994, Bill represented the United States at meetings of the Internation-

al Telecommunications Union Consultative Committee on Telegraph and Telephone.

Bill enjoyed constructing a harpsichord, organic gardening, and canoeing. His beloved wife of 41 years, Jill, died in 1997. He is survived by three children, Lauren, Becky, and Neil, and two grandchildren, to whom we extend deepest sympathy.