John Winfrid Ager, 98, of Princeton, NJ died peacefully at home 22 November 2024, 61 years to the day that he moved in, his family by his side. He was born 2 November 1926 in Birmingham, Alabama, to John Winfrid Ager and Leila Lanier Lamar. In the midst of the Great Depression, the family moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he graduated from Asheville School in 1944. He served honorably in the US Navy until 1946, crossed the Equator and witnessed the Bikini Atoll atomic tests.
After his service, he attended Harvard, graduating in 1949, having been captain of the fencing team and playing on the winning Harvard- Yale Prentice Cup tennis team in 1948. He then received a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the University of Amsterdam and Balliol College of Oxford, where he played for the Oxford-Cambridge Prentice Cup team in 1954. He also played tennis throughout Europe and made two appearances at Wimbledon in 1954 and 1955.
While at Oxford, he met his wife Sheila Margaret Wilcox, who predeceased him in 2015. They initially lived in upstate NY, where he was a research chemist with Olin. They moved to Princeton in 1960 and he began his career with FMC, where he was awarded 10 patents for agricultural compounds.
He was predeceased by his brothers, John Curtis Ager and Law Lamar Ager, and his sisters Alice Isbell Ager and Frances Gary Ager. He is survived by his loving children, Catherine (Kit) Ager Chandler and John Winfrid Ager III, and five grandchildren – Sarah, William, Elizabeth, Georgiana and Belle. A brilliant chemist and gifted tennis player, he adored his family, and lived life on his own terms. He will be remembered with love and appreciation, always.
Mr. Ager’s family will be celebrating his life in a private ceremony.
