John Middendorf IV ’82

John Middendorf IV ’82 passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on June 21, 2024, in Little Compton, Rhode Island, where he was visiting family from his home in Tasmania, Australia. John came to Dartmouth from Episcopal High School in McLean, Virginia, and later transferred to Stanford, graduating with a mechanical engineering degree. He studied fabric architecture at the University of Sydney and received master’s in architectural design from Harvard and teaching from the University of Tasmania. John taught high school mathematics, science, and robotics in the Tasmanian school system. When not teaching, he was climbing big walls, developing innovative porta-ledge designs that allow multi-day all-weather ascents, and writing hundreds of articles and several books on climbing. He also founded two companies to design and manufacture rock climbing equipment. Among other feats, John was on the first successful ascent of the Grade VII “The Grand Voyage” on Trango Tower in Pakistan, the greatest big wall in the Himalayas. Despite his early transfer, several classmates, including Dougald MacDonald ’82 and Sally McCoy ’82, knew John from climbing at Dartmouth and beyond, and Dana Kurtz ’82 photographed him climbing for the 1980 Aegis. John is survived by wife, Jeni, son Rowen, daughter Remi, several siblings, and his father. “He was truly an amazing man: kind, gentle, brilliant, inspiring, innovative, a creator and a designer, loving, interested and interesting, generous, caring, an incredible father, and an extraordinary human being,” says Jeni. “He will be greatly missed by so many.”