APRIL 7 – Joost Kiewiet de Jonge, 89, passed away Saturday, April 4, 2009, in Farmville. He was a former resident of Ben Avon, Pennsylvania, and Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh.

He was the husband of the late Anne Kiewiet de Jonge and is survived by a son, Niels Kiewiet de Jonge and wife, Barbara; three grandsons, Erik, Chad and Karl; and a brother, Coen. He was preceded in death by a sister, Wendela.

Joost was born in the Netherlands and educated in Switzerland. He attended Harvard University from 1937 to 1940, when he enlisted in the Royal Netherlands Indies Army Air Force along with his brother Coen. While training in Java, the country was captured by Japan, and they escaped to Australia and finished their flight training in the United States. The two brothers finished the war as B25 bomber pilots in Southeast Asia.

Following the war, he completed his degree at Harvard in 1953, and became a member of the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh. His principal interest was in the Alleghany Observatory.

A family memorial service will be held in Farmville.

The family requests that donations be made to the donor's favorite charity.

Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home, Farmville, is serving the family.