<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<p>Brigadier General <em>Jack Murph Pollin</em>, USA Retired, passed away peacefully May 26, 2021 in his adopted home of Tucson, AZ, joining his beloved wife, Virginia “Jinnie” C. Pollin, in Heaven. He was 99. Jack was born in Lawton, OK on April 26, 1922, the son of a career Army Field Artillery officer, Colonel George A. Pollin, and Thelma “Polly” Pollin. Jack met and fell in love with Jinnie Copithorne in Lake Forest, IL when his father was stationed at Fort Sheridan, IL. They continued dating even as Jack attended prep school at Beanie Millard’s in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>Jack accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, which he entered as a plebe in the summer of 1941, originally as a member of the Class of 1945. But after Pearl Harbor, the Class of 1945 was abbreviated to three years and his class became the Class of 1944 as the country sought to accelerate the war effort. At West Point he continued to date Jinnie, who would visit him for hops, traveling from Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, NY. Jinnie brightened even the grayest of winter days at West Point. On June 6, 1944, while fateful events at Normandy were unfolding, Jack graduated from West Point with the “D-Day Class,” was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and hours later married Jinnie in the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Chapel at West Point, completing the most significant day of his life. Jinnie and Jack were married 64 happy years, until her death in 2008.</p>
<p>Jack completed basic training as a Field Artillery officer and was immediately deployed to the European Theater as U.S. forces rapidly moved east. He was a motor officer and forward observer in the 232d Field Artillery battalion, where his unit liberated one of the Nazi concentration camps, then as an intelligence officer for the 42d Infantry Division (“Rainbow Division”) in occupied Austria directly across from Soviet forces. He returned to the United States, studying for and receiving an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He then received orders to West Point, where he taught math to the Corps of Cadets. It would be the first of three tours teaching math at West Point.</p>
<p>During the Korean War, he served in the 38th Field Artillery, training the ROK Army. In 1953 he returned to the United States, studying for and receiving a second M.S., this one in applied mathematics from Renssalear Polytechnic Institute. He returned to West Point to teach math, now as an associate professor. He then was ordered to Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe and in 1962 was selected for command of an “Honest John” (the Army’s first nuclear-capable missile) battalion, with 3d Battalion, 79th Field Artillery in Germany. After battalion command, he was selected for the U.S. Army War College, where he received his third master’s degree, this one in international relations from George Washington University. After artillery training at Fort Sill, OK, he was ordered to Vietnam as part of XXX Corps Artillery, redesignated I First Field Force, operating near Da Nang and Nha Trang with ARVN forces. After returning from Vietnam in 1966, Jack was selected for a doctoral program at the University of Arizona, where, in addition to earning his Ph.D. in systems engineering, he and Jinnie fell in love with Tucson, AZ and the Sonoran Desert. With his Ph.D., he returned to West Point in 1968, where he served as Deputy Head and later the 16th Head of the Mathematics Department from 1975 to 1985. He was one of the longest serving department heads. Jack’s tenure was during sweeping, momentous institutional changes that were then occurring at West Point. One of his important achievements was to institute teaching methods that made theoretical mathematics more applicable to battlefield and combat operations, where his West Point cadets would lead American soldiers. His remarkable service as the Head of Department resulted in an annual award named in his honor, presented to a Math Department instructor who most exemplifies Jack’s service as soldier-scholar. </p>
<p>Jack and his wife travelled the world throughout their military and retired lives. Together, they visited every continent except Antarctica, though they came reasonably close as they cruised through the Strait of Magellan. </p>
<p>After retirement from the Army, Jack took up painting and became quite accomplished, starting with landscapes of the many stunning and historic places he and Jinnie had enjoyed on their travels, and later portrait paintings of his family. His final painting was made for his granddaughter Mary’s graduation from West Point (Class of 2019) and is a depiction of the beautiful Catholic Chapel at West Point, where he and Jinnie were married. Seventy-five years later, he returned to West Point for Mary’s graduation and commissioned her as a second lieutenant at the Catholic Chapel.</p>
<p>He continued to golf into his late eighties, playing in a foursome in Tucson with men younger than he by 15 years. He also enjoyed playing tennis at West Point, and he and Jinnie played frequently but did not keep score. He was a devout Christian and a late convert to Catholicism, where he enjoyed being a frequent lector at Mass.</p>
<p>Jack and Jinnie had a daughter, Mary Beth Spiece (Don, Class of 1976); a son, John Murph Pollin; grandchildren: Elizabeth Richards, Trey Spiece, Sean Murph Pollin, Laura Anne Pollin, Mary Grace Pollin; and a great-granddaughter, Emily Ann Pollin.</p>
<p>Duty, Honor, Country: Jack served the Corps of Cadets, U.S. Army, and his country, in three wars and in peace, with unswerving devotion to West Point’s cherished motto for 41 years.</p>
<p><em>— John M. Pollin</em></p>
</body>
</html>