John Nash Jr.

John Nash Jr, a legendary fixture of Princeton University’s department of mathematics renowned for his breakthrough work in mathematics and game theory as well as for his struggle with mental illness, died with his wife, Alicia, in an automobile accident May 23, 2015 in Monroe Township, New Jersey. He was 86, she was 82.

Born in Bluefield, West Virginia, in 1928, Nash received his doctorate in mathematics from Princeton in 1950 and his graduate and bachelor’s degrees from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1948.

During the nearly 70 years that Nash was associated with the University, he was an ingenious doctoral student; a specter in Princeton’s Fine Hall whose brilliant academic career had been curtailed by his struggle with schizophrenia; then, finally, a quiet, courteous elder statesman of mathematics who still came to work every day and in the past 20 years had begun receiving the recognition many felt he long deserved. He had held the position of senior research mathematician at Princeton since 1995.

Nash was a private person who also had a strikingly public profile, especially for a mathematician. His life was dramatized in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind in which he and Alicia Nash were portrayed by actors Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly. The film centered on his influential work in game theory, which was the subject of his 1950 Princeton doctoral thesis and the work for which he received the 1994 Nobel Prize in economics.

At the time of their deaths, the Nashes were returning home from Oslo, Norway, where John had received the 2015 Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, one of the most prestigious honors in mathematics. The prize recognized his seminal work in partial differential equations, which are used to describe the basic laws of scientific phenomena. For his fellow mathematicians, the Abel Prize was a long-overdue acknowledgment of his contributions to mathematics.

For Nash to receive his field’s highest honor only days before his death marked a final turn of the cycle of astounding achievement and jarring tragedy that seemed to characterize his life. “It was a tragic end to a very tragic life. Tragic, but at the same time a meaningful life,” said Sergiu Klainerman, Princeton’s Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics, who was close to John and Alicia Nash, and whose own work focuses on partial differential equation analysis.

Although Nash did not teach or formally take on students, his continuous presence in the department over the past several decades, coupled with the almost epic triumphs and trials of his life, earned him respect and admiration, said David Gabai, Princeton Hughes-Rogers Professor of Mathematics and department chair.

Since winning the Nobel Prize, Nash had entered a long period of renewed activity and confidence — which coincided with Nash’s greater control of his mental state — that allowed him to again put his creativity to work, Klainerman said. He met Nash upon joining the Princeton faculty in 1987, but his doctoral thesis had made use of a revolutionary method introduced by Nash in connection to the Nash embedding theorems, which the Norwegian Academy described as “among the most original results in geometric analysis of the twentieth century.”

Despite their divorce, Alicia, who was born in El Salvador in 1933, endured the peaks and troughs of Nash’s life alongside him, Klainerman said. Their deaths at the same time after such a long life together of highs and lows seemed literary in its tragedy and romance.

“They were a wonderful couple,” Klainerman said. “You could see that she cared very much about him, and she was protective of him. You could see that she cared a lot about his image and the way he felt. I felt it was very moving.”

Nash is survived by his sister, Martha Nash Legg, and sons John David Stier and John Charles Martin Nash. He had his younger son, John Nash, with Alicia shortly after their marriage in 1957, which ended in divorce in 1963. They remarried in 2001.

Readers are welcome to view or share comments on a memoriam page created by Princeton University at http://johnnash.princeton.edu.

A memorial service will be planned at the University in the fall.

Editor’s Note: From a story published on Princeton University’s website and written by Morgan Kelly

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Henry Otto Isaac

Henry Otto Isaac died peacefully, surrounded by his family on May 30, 2015.

Born in Cologne, Germany in 1922, his father managed a family manufacturing industry and his mother Alice was a concert pianist. Henry left the country at 15, first for England and then the United States at the onset of the Second World War. He joined the U.S. Army and saw service from the landing at Normandy until he was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to New York and graduated from City College of New York and did graduate studies in economics at New York University.

He met and married Rhoda Kassof, an artist, art educator, and later analytical psychologist; and raised two sons, Jan Luss and Jeffrey Isaac. They moved to Switzerland for many years where Henry worked as the head of the English translation department at the Union Bank of Switzerland. After retirement, he and Rhoda settled in Princeton near family. They were long-time residents at Stonebridge.

An avid student of history and lover of good humor and travel, especially in Italy, Henry was a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, and dear friend to many who will remember his sweet and generous nature.

He is survived by his wife Rhoda, son Jeffrey, daughter-in-law Sophie, grandson Elias, cousin Eva, brother-in-law Allen and several nephews and nieces.

A memorial service will be announced.

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Nancy Nesbit Coffin

Nancy Nesbit Coffin, Mrs. David R. Coffin, formerly of Princeton, New Jersey, passed away peacefully May 9, 2015 on Nantucket Island. Born April 25, 1925 in Montgomery, Alabama, Nancy attended various schools as she moved with her mother and stepfather following construction jobs during the Depression. She graduated high school in upstate New York, attended one year at Syracuse University, before taking a job during the war years as a clerk with the Army at Fort Drum. There she met a young soldier, recently graduated from Princeton University, who would continue to write her letters from his time serving abroad with the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Nancy was married at the Princeton Chapel in June of 1947, honeymooned on Nantucket, and settled down in Princeton as a faculty wife. She first set up house in graduate housing in the Butler Project, later moving to Guyot Avenue, then finally to McCosh Circle in 1960. Her first job after raising four children was with the Princeton Red Cross. She then worked as a secretary at the Institute for Advanced Study and, finally, registrar and secretary for the Robert Taylor Rare Books Collection at Firestone Library.

Nancy enjoyed travelling with her husband, needlework, oil painting, good conversation, Victorian Literature, and all things English. She is predeceased by her husband, David; and her daughter, Lois C. Jenny. She will be greatly missed by her surviving children; Elizabeth Coffin Allerhand, D. Tristram Coffin, and Peter Gerald Coffin; her sons- and daughter-in-law: Hershel Allerhand, Peter Jenny, and Julie Noonan Coffin; her grandchildren Victoria J., and John Baboval, Peter David Jenny, Rebecca Jenny, D. W. Coffin, Jethro Coffin Allerhand, Rebekah N. Coffin, Joshua C. Coffin, Emma S. Coffin; and her great-grandson, Arthur Baboval.

Funeral services will be held graveside, later this summer on Nantucket, at Prospect Hill Cemetery.

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Margaret Kennard Johnson

Margaret (Maggi) Kennard Johnson, artist, lived a vibrant life into her 97th year. She was still creating artworks, exhibiting, giving talks, and participating in three art groups: Princeton Artists Alliance, MOVIS, and Roots, the first two of which she was a founding member. Always bubbling with enthusiasm, she loved friends, family, and life.

Her art is in museum collections in the U.S.A., Japan, and Europe, including The British Museum in London, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Tochigi Museum in Japan. She co-authored the book, Japanese Prints Today: Tradition with Innovation. She also wrote articles for Printnews, Journal of the Print World, and in Japan, Hangwa Geijutsu (International Quarterly on Prints).

She received a BFA from Pratt Institute and a Master of Design from the University of Michigan, then studied with Josef Albers, at the Summer Art Institute at Black Mountain College.

For 23 years, she taught at the Museum of Modern Art, for Victor D’Amico, one of the top art educators in the country. For three years, she taught at Pratt Institute, for Alexander Kostellow, who was legendary in the field of industrial design.

Johnson was greatly inspired by her mother, who taught art at the College of Wooster. Her father was a scientist in agricultural research. Thanks to her older brother whom she greatly admired, she developed a deep love of science. While he was in college majoring in physics, she, a senior in high school, was studying physics. As the only girl in the class, she was determined to beat the boys. Studying hard, she placed in the state competition in physics. Having also gone to the state competition in mathematics, she had considered a career in physics.

She was married to the late Edward O. Johnson, electronics engineer at RCA and Corning Glass. They were close companions on the many adventures they had together, including a year in Zurich and eight and a half years in Tokyo.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 13, 2015, at 2 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, N.J. Parking is limited. Carpooling is recommended.

Memorial contributions may be made to Arts Council of Princeton, (609) 924-8777, www.artscouncilofprinceton.org and Princeton Public Library, www.princetonlibrary.org.

Memorial Announcement:

Mark MacKenzie Lawrence

Mark MacKenzie Lawrence, 59, passed away on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at his home in Holmdel, New Jersey. A Celebration of Life will be held at Christ Church Shrewsbury Episcopal on Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent in Mark’s memory to www.Reef.org to support Mark’s immense passion for reef conservation and underwater life. Please visit Mark’s memorial website available at www.johnedayfuneralhome.com.