Irving Josiah Winters, Ph.D. passed away at 7:09 pm on January 26, 2021 at Anne Arundel Hospital in Annapolis, MD from COVID pneumonia. He is survived by his wife Wendy Glasgow Winters Ph.D., his son Tony Winters, his stepchildren Allison Glasgow Lafontaine, Roger Glasgow, and his grandchildren, Skyla Winters, Erica Winters, Roland Winters, and Quinn Lafontaine.
Irving Josiah Winters was born June 5, 1927 at St. John’s Hospital in Brooklyn NY and grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn NY. He received early admission to Yale University through the Navy V-12 college training program. While at Yale, he majored in mechanical engineering and was a member of Yale’s swim team. Designated a Branford fellow, he graduated in 1947. His first position was at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) now known as NASA at Langley Air Force base in Virginia. There he worked on high-speed wind tunnels, and supersonic aircraft.
Irv traveled across the country working on various engineering projects during segregation. He was “not allowed” to dine with his engineering colleagues in the same dining room and had to eat in the colored dining room. His colleagues, so offended by this, went and ate their meals with Irv in the segregated dining room.
He then worked at GE in New York City before the opportunity to work at Brookhaven Laboratory on their particle research program presented itself. In the 70’s Irving returned to Yale and worked in the mechanical engineering and physics department. He met Wendy at a Pierson College social gathering for African American students.
Three years later, when Wendy was completing her doctorate in Sociology at Yale and preparing to travel to Africa for an international conference on social welfare, she ran into Irving at the University’s health care center. Irving had been hit by a car on his bicycle but was well enough to ask Wendy to send him a post card from Africa. When Wendy returned, they started dating.
They were married at Bethel Chapel at Yale University in 1973. Reverend William Sloane Coffin presided over the ceremony.
Irv was an avid sailor and introduced Wendy and the children to the joys of sailing through the Yale yacht club. He first started sailing on Sheep’s Head Bay in Brooklyn and taught Tony his son how to sail on Great South Bay in Long Island and Allison and Roger on Long Island sound in New Haven.
When Irving and Wendy moved to Annapolis, Irv continue to enjoy his sailboats and participated in the Annapolis to Bermuda race. Irving and his wife frequently sailed from Annapolis to Martha’s Vineyard for summer vacations. Irv owned several sailboats with colorful names like, Rafiki, Echinoderm and Blues Away.
We will never forget his jovial laugh, his love of jazz and science and his love of his family and friends.
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