Obituaries

Professor Thomas Roche Jr., Renaissance scholar and ‘generous teacher,’ dies at 89

“[Roche] was the consummate host, the consummate professor, the consummate Spencerian, the consummate mentor, an extraordinary friend. And one of the most caring, wicked, hilarious, big hearted people I know,” reflected John Smelcer ’98, a founding member of Princeton Shakespeare Company (PSC), in an email to The Daily Princetonian. 

Professor John Murrin, prolific historian of early America, dies at 84 of COVID-19 complications

“There’s a motto in academia — everyone here is smart; you can distinguish yourself by being kind. No one embodied this motto more than John,” noted professor Kevin Kruse.

Renowned U. mathematician John Conway dead at 82 from COVID-19 complications

Conway died at the Parker nursing home in New Brunswick, N.J., where he has been in residence for nearly a year, several of his close friends confirmed.

Physics professor emeritus and Nobel laureate Phil Anderson dies at age 96

Anderson was the Joseph Henry Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at the University, where he has been a faculty member since 1975. He died on March 29, 2020, in Princeton Windrows, N.J.

Venerated mathematical physicist Freeman J. Dyson dies at 96

Despite his mathematical contributions to the theories of quantum electrodynamics, Dyson did not receive the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga. The theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg GS ’57, who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, told the New York Times in 2009 that the Nobel Prize Committee “fleeced” Dyson by not awarding him a prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics.

Physics professor emeritus Pierre Adrien Piroué dies at age 88

For his first experiment, Piroué was effectively on his own. For his last, he worked with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and collaborated with more than 3,000 scientists.

'The integrity and will of ten men': the life of Paul Volcker ’49

In his senior thesis, Volcker criticized how the Federal Reserve dealt with inflation in the wake of WWII. Thirty years later, becoming Chairman of the Federal Reserve among economic turmoil, he began a crusade against inflation that would define his career.

Professor emeritus Jameson Doig dies at 86

“Jim Doig was far and away the best thing about my Princeton education and the same is true for many others,” Andrew D. Hurwitz ’68 wrote. “But Jim’s mentorship did not end when you graduated … he was always available to comment on your work and regularly asked [you] to comment on his.”

U. professor emeritus, World War II veteran Samuel Hynes dies at 95

Samuel Hynes, a World War II veteran, as well as the University’s Emeritus Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and emeritus professor of English, passed away at his home in Princeton on Oct. 10 at the age of 95.

Acclaimed theoretical physicist and U. professor Steven Gubser ’94 dies at 47

Prominent theoretical physicist and professor of physics Steven Scott Gubser ’94 died in Chamonix, France, on Saturday, Aug. 3. 

Neuroscience pioneer and U. professor Charles Gross dies at 83

Charles Gordon Gross, a professor emeritus of psychology at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) and pioneer of cognitive neuroscience, died at age 83 in Oakland, Calif. on April 13. 

UPDATED: Famed economist, professor Alan Krueger dies at 58

Krueger is most well-known in the field of economics for his research on the effects of minimum wage on employment. His study with Harvard economist Lawrence Katz and UC Berkeley economist David Card showed that an increase in the minimum wage did not result in a reduction in employment.

HUM Sequence co-founder Theodore K. Rabb GS '61 passes away at 81

Theodore K. Rabb GS ’61 was the co-founder of the Humanities sequence to introduce a group of first-year students to the literature, philosophy, and history of Western civilization. 

Renowned mathematician and professor Elias Stein passes away at 87

Renowned mathematician Elias M. Stein, the Albert Baldwin Dod Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University, passed away on Dec. 23, 2018, at the age of 87.

Updated: Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle ’51 passes away at 89

John C. “Jack” Bogle ’51 has passed away at 89. A giant in the investment world, he founded the first index mutual fund and the influential Vanguard Group.

Acclaimed architect Robert Venturi ’47 dies at 93

Robert Venturi ’47 GS ’50, an acclaimed architect whose designs and writings transformed the field and sparked the postmodernist movement, died in his home on Tuesday, Sept. 18. He was 93.

Schorske, professor emeritus of history, dies at 100