In Remembrance: John William Nystrom ’56PhD Died on May 12 2013

John William (J. W.) Nystrom, 83, of Woodstock, Georgia, passed away on May 12, 2013, at Yale–New Haven Hospital after a complicated illness.

Nystrom was the only son of the late William and Verna Nystrom of Danbury, Connecticut. He spent his formative years attending the Wooster School in Danbury and graduated from Hobart College in Geneva, New York, in 1951. He later studied at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and received a PhD in education at Yale University in 1956.

Nystrom had a rich professional career spanning countries abroad as well as in the US. Prior to his travels to the Middle East, he worked at the IBM Corporation as manager of education in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1960, he accepted a teaching position at the American University of Beirut, and later served as academic vice president of Lebanon’s International College.

He returned to the US in 1969, and served as president of Bennett College in Millbrook, New York, and subsequently worked at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York, as an executive vice president for planning and enrollment. In 1991 he was invited by the King Faisal Foundation of Saudia Arabia to direct the opening of an all-boys school in Riyadh and served as an executive consultant to the institution until his 1994 retirement to Georgia, where he was actively involved in the tennis community.

J. W., as he was affectionately known, was an athletic enthusiast and played football and basketball, and was a member of his college’s boxing team. He enjoyed horseback riding and was a member of the Beirut Horse and Pony Club in Beirut and the Millbrook Foxhunt in Millbrook, New York.  During his retirement years, he was an active member of the Georgia USTA and enjoyed verifying, umpiring, as well as coaching players at all levels.

He is survived by his wife, Gloria Schild, three daughters, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

—Submitted by the family.