Simply put, Warren exuded competence. During nearly 30 years as vice president, general counsel, and secretary from inception of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, now the largest health-care philanthropy, he oversaw legalities of billions of dollars in grants. He then became a leading figure in arbitration, serving as CEO of the Global Center for Dispute Resolution Research and on boards devoted to dispute resolution.
A high school valedictorian in Portsmouth, Va., at Princeton he majored in English, was a Whig-Clio officer, business manager of the Nassau Lit, chairman of the student-faculty precept program, Army ROTC first sergeant, freshman and sophomore fencer, and Dial Lodge member. As an Army captain he commanded a tactical nuclear-weapons battalion in Germany, then worked as a banker, studied under Antonin Scalia at Virginia, and practiced in Richmond until joining the foundation in 1975.
Warren is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marcia; daughter Lauren Yeh; son Josh; sister Barbara Harrell; and grandchildren Emily Yeh, Madeleine Wood, and Joshua Warren Wood V.