From Pam, and John's family, comes the following obituary. An amazing person who left Kirkwood High School $100,000 in his Will, to do good things for the children of KHS. The school is still deciding exactly how to use it in John's honor and memory to benefit the Kirkwood students of today. Obviously John, like so many of us, felt he had a wonderful beginning in the Kirkwood school system. Pam sends her greetings to our classmates and we are looking forward to the next class of KHS Hall of Fame for which we'll see to it that John is nominated. Herewith a review of John's accomplishments, most of us will have a connection to his life's work, read on! Thank you Pam for your friendship then and now. Thank you John C. Nash for being part of our lives in so many ways.
John C. Nash died March 6, 2018 in Los Altos, California. He had
lived in the Bay area for 35 years, largely in Redwood City.
John
entered the Princeton Class of ’67 from Kirkwood, Missouri High
School [KHS63] in suburban St. Louis where he had been Student
Council Vice-President, class Vice-President, and class
valedictorian.
At
Princeton John majored in mathematics after first preparing for the
psychology department. As he wrote in our 50th Reunion
Book, he discovered math was his true interest so spent his sophomore
summer catching up on the courses he had needed as preparation for
the math department. He roomed with Roger Rudolph, Bob Grant, and
Dave Paul in 4A Holder Hall and was an active Elm Club member, the
club’s ace pool player and competitor in the inter-club
tournaments. He was also a member of Whig-Clio, the James Madison
Humorous Debating Society, and the Stock Investment and Analysis
Club.
After
graduation John went to Stanford for graduate study getting his M.S.
in mathematics in 1970 and Ph.D. in 1976. He then taught math at
the University of California Santa Cruz from 1975-78, and the
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, from 1978-83. At the end
of 8 years in academia John switched careers to join the private
technology industry which was amidst the great computer and digital
revolution of personal computing and enterprise systems. He moved
back to the San Francisco Bay area and what became Silicon Valley
working for a small software design firm from 1983-86, a subsidiary
of Xerox Corp called Versatec Corp. When the smaller firm was
absorbed by Xerox, John
decided to leave to again find a small firm in which to work freed
from the large bureaucracy of American corporations. The firm he
started with at the time had only 100 employees but grew into its own
large business, Adobe Systems. John began as a staffer but rose to
become the company’s Principal Scientist which permitted him to
often work independently outside the bureaucratic organization doing,
as he wrote for the class, “development {of} software for a number
of Adobe’s graphics products.” He retired in 2005 having helped
establish one of Silicon Valley’s, and our world’s, major
indispensable computer business tools.
In
retirement John continued his hobbies including collecting rare books
from the 1930s Los Angeles genre of crime and detective novels of
Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett , and James T. Cain, and he
pursued his love of cooking, hiking, and watching the film version of
'30s crime stories in the Hollywood “Film Noir” genre.
John is survived by a stepson, Jason, stepdaughter Rachel, and two
sisters Diane Schultz [KHS58] and Sue Stoltz [KHS66]. The Class of ’67 is proud of
this technology pioneer, who contributed so much to the digital and
information economy of the past 4 decades and we are greatly
diminished by the loss of a brilliant mathematical innovator and
engineer.
If you would like to contact Pam, please let me know.
If you would like to contact Pam, please let me know.
Leslie and Pam Dalton thank you so much for your post on KHS65. An updated article from Princeton University this year is listed in the link below:
ReplyDeletehttps://giving.princeton.edu/impact-stories/technology-pioneer-john-nash-67-got-his-start-princeton?fbclid=IwAR1HsXxXulZMUFbZcnYzlFe831YE4uzOU6O4moybWB2cJtFG8XM_IMZnouk
No Mystery Here: Technology Pioneer John C. Nash ’67 Got His Start at Princeton
August 9th, 2019 / Gift Planning
John Nash '67Touching up a too-dark photo or using a fancy font for an invitation was made easier by computer graphics programs that the software giant Adobe Systems introduced — and John C. Nash ’67 helped develop those products.
Nash, who died March 6, 2018, in Los Altos, California, began as a staffer when Adobe had only 100 employees. He rose to become the company’s principal scientist, and retired in 2005 having helped establish one of our world’s indispensable business tools.
Nash didn’t forget that it was at Princeton where he discovered his love of mathematics, switching from psychology after spending his sophomore summer catching up on courses he needed to change his major. His bequest to the University, given for the University to use where it is most needed, was just shy of $1 million.
At Princeton, Nash was Elm Club’s ace pool player, competing in inter-club tournaments, as well as a member of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, the James Madison Humorous Debating Society, and the Stock Investment and Analysis Club.
After graduation, Nash earned a Ph.D. at Stanford and taught math at the university level for eight years. As the digital revolution heated up, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area to join a small software design firm, Versatec Corp., that was a subsidiary of Xerox. After three years, he moved to Adobe Systems, where he spent the rest of his career.
In retirement, Nash continued his hobbies of cooking and hiking, and of collecting rare books focused on 1930s Los Angeles detective fiction by the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. He also enjoyed watching the film noir versions Hollywood produced.
While he called the West Coast home, he came back east and marched in the Parade for his 50th Reunion.
I am John's sister Suzanne Nash Stoltz Class of '66
Suzanne thank you so much for this article. Many of us remember John, even those of us who didn't actually know him... some of us knew him because he and Pam were such a glamorous couple! He left the world way too early, but he left it with grace and look at all the good he did while he was here and in his generosity to others. I hope you and your family continue to keep John's accomplishments and spirit in the forefront of our awareness. Leslie Vander Meulen Richards
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