Albert Sydney Ashmead, Jr.

New York Times Obituary

Dr. John Ashmead, a professor emeritus of English at Haverford College who was a pioneer in the use of computers in humanities research and was also a scholar of Japanese, died on Friday at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 74 years old and lived in Haverford, Pa.

He died of lymphoma, said his daughter, Theodora W. Ashmead of Haverford.

Dr. Ashmead was born in New York City and attended Harvard University, where he earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. After completing his education, he worked as a reporter for The Hartford Times and later The Philadelphia Bulletin. Linguistic War Effort

Fluent in Japanese, Dr. Ashmead was attached to the Joint Intelligence Center in the Pacific during World War II and served both the Army and Navy as a translator and interpreter.

For this work, he received a commendation from Adm. Chester W. Nimitz. His former wife, Ann Harnwell Ashmead of Haverford, said the commendation was for his secret work in connection with the shooting down of a Japanese aircraft carrying Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Dr. Ashmead began teaching English at Haverford College after the war and soon developed computer programs to analyze poetry and literature. In 1955, he went to Japan as a Fulbright lecturer in American studies at Osaka University of Foreign Studies. There, he took pride in reminding his Japanese hosts that his grandfather, Albert Ashmead, had been a surgeon to the imperial family of Japan and a founder of one of the first modern hospitals in the country in 1872.

Dr. Ashmead wrote dozens of academic articles, an English textbook and two novels, "The Mountain and the Feather" and "Who Sleep on Brambles," both dealing with the experiences of an American scholar of Japanese during World War II.

Besides his daughter, he is survived by three sons, John 3d, of Rosemont, Pa.; Dr. Graham G., of Cleveland, and Gaylord H., of Lausanne, Switzerland; another daughter, Louisa Harral of Philadelphia; and two sisters, Lydia Strother of Bethel, Conn., and Mildred Schlessinger of Hamden, Conn.

Find-A-Grave

1911-02-22; Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer

DR. ALBERT S. ASHMEAD Dr Albert Sydney Ashmead, an authority on pellagra, leprosy and Asiatic diseases and a student of literature, theology and kindred subjects, died Monday night in Jefferson Hospital as a result of a complication of diseases. Dr. Ashmead was 61 years old.

He was born in this city and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical department in 1869. He then became identified with Jefferson Hospital, and from this city went to Japan, where he became connected with the Tokio [sic] Hospital as medical director. During his stay in Japan, Dr. Ashmead became a personal friends of the Mikado and studied Asiatic diseases.

Upon leaving Japan he practiced for a number of years in New York City. He was a member of an old Germantown family, an d was the eighth physician of his name in a direct line. Dr. Ashmead is survived by his widow, three sons and two daughters. The funeral services will be held from the home of his brother, Nathaniel W., Ashmead, 102 Johnson street, Germantown."