William Ryle Rossmassler Jr. ’44

Bill died Feb. 10, 2009, in Paducah, Ky., where he had lived since being transferred there by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1951. He was 87. 

Bill met his wife, the former Sue Tubb, when both were with the AEC at Oak Ridge, Tenn., in 1946, and they married in 1947. He wrote us humorously in our 60th-reunion book that in Western Kentucky, they lived “between Possum Trot and Monkey’s Eyebrow . . . obviously near the end of the world, but we haven’t fallen off yet.” In fact, that community and Bill’s family gave the couple a large, loving reception on their 50th wedding anniversary. 

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Bill prepped at Lawrenceville. At Princeton, he roomed with John Thompson and Les Paternotte, majored in chemical engineering, was active with WPRU, and was a member of Campus Club. After earning his bachelor’s degree in 1943, he followed a neighbor’s recommendation and found himself working at Columbia University with the Manhattan Project, then at Oak Ridge. At Paducah, he helped start a new diffusion plant. In 1981, he donated a four-volume collection of postage stamps from the British Commonwealth and associated nations to the Princeton Library.

Our sincere condolences go to Sue and Bill’s brother, Peter R. Rossmassler ’54.