All Scholars
FINE, John Van Antwerp
- Date of Birth: December 03, 1903
- Born City: Princeton
- Born State/Country: NJ
- Parents: John Burchard, founder of the Princeton Prep. Sch., & Adele P. Bohme F.
- Date of Death: January 17, 1987
- Death City: Princeton
- Death State/Country: NJ
- Married: Elizabeth Bunting, 6 July 1933.
- Education:
A.B. Princeton, 1925; Ph.D. Yale, 1932.
- Dissertation:
“Studies on the Early Years of Philip V of Macedon” (Yale, 1932).
- Professional Experience:
Instr. class. Yale 1932-4; asst. prof, class. & hist. Williams Coll., 1934-40; Andrew Fleming West lectr. class. Princeton, 1940-1; asst. prof, to assoc. prof. 1941-9; Ewing prof. Gk. lang. & lits., 1949-72; mng. comm. ASCSA.
- Publications:
“The Problems of Macedonian Holdings in Epirus and Thessaly in 221 B.C.,” TAPA 63 (1932) 126-55; “The Background of the Social War of 220-217 B.C.,” AJP 61 (1940) 129-65; “The Antigonids,” The Greek Political Experience (Princeton, 1941), 125-46; Horoi: Studies in Mortgage, Real Security and Land Tenure in Ancient Athens, Hesperia Suppl. 9 (Baltimore, 1951); The Ancient Greeks (Cambridge, 1983).
- Notes:
John V.A. Fine was a true son of Princeton. His father founded Princeton Prep, his uncle, Henry Burchard Fine, was professor of mathematics and dean of the faculty, and his aunt founded Miss Fine's School. Following graduation he worked for two years as a roustabout in the southwestern oil fields. He first returned to his alma mater as visiting lecturer on the West Foundation and in the next year began his permanent appointment. He served in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946, retiring as lieutenant colonel. In 1962 he was awarded a McCosh Faculty Fellowship, at that time the highest award for distinguished scholarship given by the university. He gave long service as graduate director of the Classics Department and developed the classics library. In the words of W. Robert Connor, “He gave great attention to the graduate students and they responded with great affection. . . . Because of his extraordinary performance in ordering books, Firestone's classics collection is almost without compare.”
- Sources:
DAS 74:145; Princeton U. Archives; WhAm 1976-7:998.
- Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.
