Document: Memorial notice for James M. Schoonmaker Jr., Princeton Class of 1911
JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER JR. ’11
Document: Memorial notice for James M. Schoonmaker Jr., Princeton Class of 1911
JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER JR. ’11
It is with great sorrow that the Class records the death of James M. Schoonmaker Jr., who died on the early morning of December 1, 1941, following a heart attack. Apparently much improved in health during the past few months, he participated in a “shoot” with friends on Sunday afternoon and was in the best of spirits. Soon after retiring, he was seized with pain, and he succumbed shortly thereafter. Funeral services were appropriately held from his home in Sewickley Heights, which meant so much to him, on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 2.Jay came to Princeton from Haverford School, and the qualities which endeared him to all of us were soon apparent; and his unusual mental equipment bordering on genius immediately commanded our respect. As [Edwin] Menefee Clancy, with whom he roomed, has very aptly said, “he was beloved by all of our [censored] P[ersonal]. V[alet].’s, by all the waiters at ‘Doc’s’ and the Nass[au Hall Dining Room], by all the drivers of cabs, as well as by all in the higher walks of Princeton life; nor was there anyone who did not enjoy life a little more keenly, when in his company.”Unquestionably Jay acquired some of his technical bent and desire for the kind of training from his father, Col. James M. Schoonmaker, for many years chairman of the board of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. Following this urge, he left Princeton the second term of junior year and matriculated at M.I.T. He returned to us for senior year and after graduating with the Class, took his degree in electrical engineering the following year. Shortly thereafter, Professor Trowbridge, a member of a committee of technical experts appointed by President Taft to make an inspection of the Panama Canal, then nearing completion, gave recognition to Jay’s talents by securing permission to take him on the trip in an unofficial capacity. Following this experience, he became chief engineer of the H. S. [F.W.] Talbot Co., a large construction organization, and spent two and a half years in Canada on the construction of a hydro-electric unit of the Laurentide Paper Co. at Grand[-]Mère, Quebec, Canada. The year 1917 found Jay in Washington, shut up in a room in the Willard Hotel with other engineers working on what was the beginning of the far-famed Liberty motor. He soon became chief engineer of the Dayton[-]Wright Airplane Co., and in January 1918, Jay came forth with the completed design of the army plane known as the DH-4—famous, said jokingly, because it would “fall faster and crash harder than any ship previously or since designed.” He was discharged from the service on November 25, 1918, as a major. After the war, Jay founded and became vice-president and general manager of the Standard Steel Spring Co. at Coraopolis and later became president of the General Aviation Corp. In recent years, he had been content to retain, through directorships his business contacts, and had found great pleasure in the building and developing of his country place at Sewickley Heights.Jay maintained his good reunion record attending the Thirtieth, and as on all similar occasions, added greatly to the enjoyment of others, not only through his friendly and delightful contacts, but in sharing liberally his entertaining talents with us all. Not only was he a teller of stories without a peer, as for example “Gunga Din” in seven languages, but he had flair for writing verse, best remembered [by] “I’m Smoking My Pipe on the Campus.”Not only does it seem tragic that we must [lose] such a friend, and Princeton a truly devoted and generous son, but that his life was not spared in these critical days of war when his unusual talents might again be devoted to the service of [our] country, which we know would have been his greatest wish.To his widow, Lucy Kay Schoonmaker, a frequent visitor with him at Princeton, the Class extends heartfelt sympathy.
For the Class of 1911
Joseph F. Mann Cortlandt W. Handy
Charles J. Biddle Andrew P. Monroe
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