GS Class of 1951

George Haley ’51 AM, ’56 PhD, of Chicago; Jun. 6, after a brief illness. He was a professor of romance languages and literature at the University of Chicago and served as department chairman for three years. He wrote numerous articles and published several books throughout his career. He enjoyed collecting notable works of art and was an accomplished classical music pianist. He is survived by a sister, a brother, and many nieces and nephews. 

Marjorie Stadele Aamodt ’51 ScM, of Raleigh, N.C., formerly of Murray Hill, N.J., Lake Placid, N.Y., and Chester County, Pa.; Feb. 7. After Brown, she was hired as a member of the technical staff for Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, where she met her future husband. She worked on projects dealing with the Early Warning System. In 1954, she left Bell Labs to raise a family and moved to Pennsylvania to start farming. She and her husband created an organic farm and raised Angus beef cattle. After the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979, she participated in research to determine the cause of the accident and her work led to changes in training on simulators and testing improvements. In the mid 1980s they sold the farm and moved to Lake Placid, and in 2020 they moved to Raleigh. She is survived by her husband, Norman; a daughter; two sons; a daughter-in-law; a son-in-law; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

John Rockett ’51 ScM, of Peterborough, N.H.; Dec. 30, after a short illness. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and graduating from MIT, he obtained his master’s degree from Brown and his PhD from Harvard. He performed aerodynamic research for the MIT Aeroelastic Laboratory from 1950 to 1954 and in 1957 joined Pratt & Whitney, where he worked on jointly sponsored research with Harvard on compressor stall. He organized the Pratt & Whitney laboratory in applied physics in East Hartford and was chief of fuel cell technology from 1963 to 1966. His interest in combustion led him to work for the Factory Mutual Engineering Assoc., where he served as director of basic research before joining the National Bureau of Standards in 1968. His work there included studies on flame spread, fire induced convective air movement in buildings, and applied research on the prediction of growth and spread of building fires, which led to consulting with the NIH into the biological effects of smoke inhalation, flame retardant clothing, work on mine safety, and many other applications. He became chief of the office of fire research and safety at the Bureau of Standards, charged with the implementation of a series of fire research and safety acts, which resulted in the improved fire standards we have in many areas today. He later moved on to forensic work in fires. His continuing work with Harvard on fire simulation computer modeling led him to conduct forensic work on the Morton Thiokol plant explosion in Utah. He inspected container fires, subway systems in Europe, hull fires on ships, and air crashes. He retired at age 80 and obtained his qualification as a ski instructor. He continued to instruct until the age of 85 and skied well into his 90s. He was a member of the International Association for Fire Safety Science and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Phi Beta Kappa. He is survived by his wife, Abby; two children; and four grandchildren.

John G. Mavroides ’51 ScM, ’53 PhD, of Okeechobee, Fla., formerly of Lexington, Mass.; Oct. 3. Before attending Brown, he  served in the U.S. Navy, followed by a position at the U.S. Navy underwater sound laboratory in New London, Conn. as project engineer in the development of electro-acoustical devices for the detection of submarines and in the development of an underwater telephone. After graduating from Brown, he joined the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he spent 32 years doing research on solid state materials. He published more than 50 articles and presented his work at numerous conferences and lectures, both nationally and internationally. He was a founding member of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lexington and served on the first parish council. He is survived by two sons and their spouses, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.