William E. Bonini ’48 *49

Bill was on the Princeton faculty from 1952 until transferring to emeritus status in 1996. The holder of an endowed professorship of geophysics and geological engineering, he did distinguished work in magnetic and gravitational geophysics, spanning the departments of geophysics, geological engineering, and civil engineering. For many years he directed a summer field-research program in Montana, now also training graduate students from other universities. He advised more than 300 graduate students. One of these, who later became a faculty colleague, says, “Of course he was a well-known scientist, but I think about what a devoted and remarkable teacher he was.” Another one of his student advisees, now a professor at another university, recalled: “Bill was so smart! We lived in fear of his questions [in graduate exams] … absolutely penetrating and to the point, but we adored him as a person.”

Born Aug. 23, 1926, in Washington, D.C., Bill died Dec. 13, 2016. He was the first in his family to complete college. His master’s degree in 1949 was also from Princeton; his Ph.D. in geology and geophysics was from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. There, he met Rose Rozich, and they married in 1954. She survives him, as do their sons Jack ’79 and Jamie ’85, daughters Nancy ’81 and Jennifer ’91, and seven grandchildren.