John Calvin Lair ’38

Body

Jack died of pneumonia Aug. 18, 1999, in Cynthiana, Kent.

In 1988, Jack wrote that in his "not quite two years at Princeton, '38 supplied the best obtainable enlightenment." He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental in 1939.

As a WWII merchant mariner, Jack earned a British Navy citation in a rescue of torpedoed British sailors. He sailed worldwide on a Liberty ship.

Jack combined Harvard studies with Oberlin College teaching and Great Lakes ore haulers. He earned a 1955 MIT BS and did aerospace work with TRW. Failing eyesight darkened his last years.

Jack's former wife, Dr. Winifred Scott, died in 1994. The class extends sympathy to his sister, Theodora Lair Hopper, and her family.

The Class of 1938

Paw in print

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The cover of PAW’s January 2025 issue, featuring an illustration of a Princeton locker room with jerseys, a basketball, a football helmet, a hockey stick, etc., and the headline: 25 Greatest Princeton Athletes, ranked.
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