From punch cards to legacy code: Grateful for family memories and lifetime friendships, Russell Pyne ’77 gives back to Princeton

He was always cold.

Russell Pyne ’77 didn’t mind, though. His brain was whirring with curiosity. The massive computer that stirred his imagination needed colossal amounts of air-conditioning to combat the excessive heat it generated.

For Pyne, going to Princeton meant holing up in the newly built EQuad —specifically, in Princeton’s new Computer Center, which had opened on Nov. 1, 1962, and housed an IBM 7090, the first supercomputer that used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. In 1964, the 7090 was converted to an IBM 7094, increasing computational capability by 33%.

This was Pyne’s introduction to computing. He would manually write his FORTRAN IV code, then type the code line by line with a keypunch machine onto cards, which were then batched together to run his programs. Programs like birthday banners for friends: long, folded sheets of green bar paper produced by a line printer. It was cutting-edge technology and completely appropriate for Pyne, who was just nine years old when the 7094 arrived on campus.

Fever was burning for computer science at Princeton, with all departments eager to benefit from the new machine. A January 1963 Princeton Alumni Weekly article, “The Supernatural World of Computers,” took a close look at the 7094 under the heading “A $3,500,000 Machine,” and noted that “no one really knows what the limits of computer ‘intelligence’ are.”

But for Pyne, the allure of Princeton was not just access to a computer. It also meant time with his father. Insley B. Pyne ’42 *50 served on the faculty of the electrical engineering department from 1951 to 1961 before joining the staff at the Computer Center.

They were pivotal years for the young Pyne. “Those are seminal memories,” he said. “As a result, I’ve always been interested in technology, especially advances in software. It led to my career in venture capital. Without that beginning, who knows where I would have gone or what I would have done.

“I thought my dad was crazy when he predicted that someday you’d be able to buy a computer as powerful as the 7094 for less than a thousand dollars,” Pyne said. “I should have believed him.”

Booting up: Princeton and beyond

Insley Pyne, like many Princetonians of his generation, paused his studies during World War II. The Class of 1942 had 674 members as freshman; by the start of their senior year, Insley Pyne was one of 54 who had left to serve their country. In August of 1941, Pyne joined the United States Naval Reserve as an apprentice seaman. As a dive bomber pilot stationed in the Pacific, he rose to the rank of full lieutenant by July 1944 and was awarded multiple medals for his service, including three Distinguished Flying Crosses, before being discharged in September 1945.

He returned to Princeton that fall, earned a B.S. in physics and then matriculated into the Graduate School, where he earned an M.S. in electrical engineering in 1950 and began working as an instructor in the engineering department. He then served as a professor in the electrical engineering department until 1961, resigning to join the project research staff at the Computer Center in 1962. He managed operations there until 1963, after which he continued to work at the center as a consultant on programming procedures for various departments of the University.

Insley Pyne then began a second career after an early retirement from Princeton. When he had enrolled as a freshman, he was already a student of Italian, German and French and was interested in a career in vocal music, intending to major in modern languages. As his second act, so to speak, he followed his lifelong passion for music and became a professional opera singer, performing in the U.S. and internationally. Russell Pyne remembers hearing stories as a child about his father’s friendship with fellow scientist and violinist Albert Einstein. “My dad was a beautiful pianist and would play duets with Einstein at his home,” he said.

Growing up in Princeton, with so many fond memories of time with his father at the University, Russell Pyne knew from an early age that Princeton was his first choice for college.

He majored in economics, was a member of the Ivy Club and made lasting friendships. “I spent my freshman year in Lockhart in a quad,” Pyne said. “Two of my roommates and I stayed together for four years, and they became two of my lifelong best friends. We were joined in our sophomore year by a third friend who stayed with us until graduation. We were a close group and shared many fun times together.”

After Princeton, Pyne went on to business and law school at Stanford, then worked as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. He met his wife, Helen, on a blind date. “She said she’d never date a lawyer, so I ended up leaving the law firm and going into business,” he said with a laugh.

As they contemplated living outside of New York City, he convinced Helen to give California a try. They’ve been there ever since. “We moved out to California, and in five years we had four kids, so that’s a pretty good anchor,” he said.

Pyne became a general partner of the Sprout Group, the venture capital affiliate of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette; then, in 1991, he co-founded Atrium Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm supporting entrepreneurial startups.

He and Helen have given much of their time to philanthropic causes. Pyne said his role model for a life of service was his mother: “She always felt if she saw anybody suffering that she couldn’t be completely comfortable in her own life.” He remembers in his early days, his family “volunteered our time and brought clothes to charitable organizations.”

One of Pyne’s interests is criminal justice reform. For many years he served on the board of JobTrain, a Menlo Park-based nonprofit with a stated mission to help people “reclaim their lives from poverty and unemployment by preparing them for successful, sustainable careers in high-demand and emerging fields.” He began leading a twice-weekly boot camp. “For years I taught life skills to disadvantaged individuals, many of whom had a history of incarceration,” he said. “That was something I really enjoyed.”

He and Helen also support Daraja Academy in Kenya, a tuition-free secondary boarding school that educates talented girls who have grown up in poverty. The couple recently helped lead a capital campaign to build a new campus. “It was a mission of passion,” Pyne said. “When you educate a girl, you literally transform families and communities. The girls become advocates and educate their leaders about how times are changing. That’s what really drives us. We’re hyperfocused on fighting extreme poverty by promoting educational opportunities.”

Code of service: supporting Princeton

With his perfect Annual Giving record, Pyne has supported Princeton since graduation. In 2004, he became a member of the 1746 Society with a bequest. “We have a family fund established in my dad’s honor,” he said. “The J. Insley Blair Pyne Fund is an endowed fund supporting research at the intersection of computer science and neuroscience since that was of great interest to my dad. That’s part of our gift planning — to provide additional resources to support the mission of this endowed fund.”

In 2013, Pyne took on the role of class chair for Princeton’s Gift Planning team. He has occasional conversations with classmates who reach out to him with technical questions about estate planning. “And I generally say, ‘Let me connect you to someone in Princeton’s Gift Planning office,” he said. “But between now and our 50th Reunion, I expect to play a more active role because this is the first reunion where planned-giving gifts can be counted toward our Annual Giving goal.” In honor of his 50th, Pyne is participating in the Annual Giving Legacy program by creating a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) that will benefit his class’s milestone reunion.

Pyne is part of his class’s 50th Reunion Annual Giving team. In that role, his primary goal is to encourage his classmates to come back to campus. “This is probably our last really big reunion,” he said. “It’s a milestone event and an excellent opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to recognize that Princeton brought us together.

“What really brings me back are the friendships I made that have lasted the test of time,” he said. “And that has sustained my affection and bond and gratitude to Princeton.”

Pyne views his support for Princeton as just one aspect of the service to the nation and to humanity that are centered in the University’s informal motto. “Princeton clearly has been a part of my life,” he said. “It affected me at a formative age before I was a student there and also while I was enrolled — but it’s not the only thing in my life.

“An alum can be supportive and loyal to Princeton and also be actively involved in other organizations and activities. I think part of our responsibility is to look beyond the campus. We can support Princeton while also helping other nonprofits. To me, they are all just part of the same tapestry, where we’re trying to make a difference in the world. We’re all part of the same team.”

When Pyne returns next spring for his 50th, he will most likely record new moments with old friends using a smartphone that fits comfortably in his pocket, costs less than a thousand dollars and is vastly more powerful than the IBM that first captured his imagination on Princeton’s campus. His father’s prescience might not be top of mind as he reunites with classmates, but the love both father and son have shared for Princeton undoubtedly will be.

—Catherine Mallette ’84

To learn more about how the Annual Giving Legacy program, please contact Princeton’s Gift Planning team.