I came to know Jay in my junior year (1966) at Oberlin...he was majoring in religion (or possibly, philosophy) while I was pursuing what seemed a marathon in chemistry. It seems there would be little overlap here, but Oberlin had a way of drawing people together rather than separating by educational discipline. Jay and I had interesting discussions on many subjects, apart from the daily grind of academics. These were mostly philosophical, mainly late at night, but also on where the chemical elements came from (the stars, as Carl Sagan once said), Einstein's theory of relativity, and the Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones! Jay was a gentle person with an inquiring mind that encompassed many areas, I like to think Jay learned some science from me, as I learned some philosophy from him (beyond the Philosophy 1 course at Oberlin which I was taking that year with Professor Norman Care).
I ran across Jay by chance a year after graduation (in 1968) at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City: Jay was pursuing Middle Eastern Languages at Columbia while I had taken the train down from New Haven, where I was continuing my chemistry marathon at Yale (and worrying constantly about being drafted). We said hello, talked for an hour or so over coffee, and that was the last I saw of Jay. I was saddened to hear of his death years later, but will awlays have fond memories of this kind and gentle man.
Richard Needham (1967)
I came to know Jay in my junior year (1966) at Oberlin...he was majoring in religion (or possibly, philosophy) while I was pursuing what seemed a marathon in chemistry. It seems there would be little overlap here, but Oberlin had a way of drawing people together rather than separating by educational discipline. Jay and I had interesting discussions on many subjects, apart from the daily grind of academics. These were mostly philosophical, mainly late at night, but also on where the chemical elements came from (the stars, as Carl Sagan once said), Einstein's theory of relativity, and the Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones! Jay was a gentle person with an inquiring mind that encompassed many areas, I like to think Jay learned some science from me, as I learned some philosophy from him (beyond the Philosophy 1 course at Oberlin which I was taking that year with Professor Norman Care).
I ran across Jay by chance a year after graduation (in 1968) at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City: Jay was pursuing Middle Eastern Languages at Columbia while I had taken the train down from New Haven, where I was continuing my chemistry marathon at Yale (and worrying constantly about being drafted). We said hello, talked for an hour or so over coffee, and that was the last I saw of Jay. I was saddened to hear of his death years later, but will awlays have fond memories of this kind and gentle man.