Kees Bol passed away Saturday, August 8, 2015 at his residence in Montgomery Township, New Jersey. Kees was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Markee, who passed in 2013. He is survived by two brothers, Joor and Morris Bol; four children, Peter (Satomi) Bol, Stacy (John) Stahl, Christina Bol, and Faith (Harlan) Fish; and his four grandchildren, Christopher Bol, Rebecca Stahl, Alison Stahl, and Daniel Fish.

Kees was born on June 16, 1925 and was the oldest of the six sons of Cornelis and Josina Bol. In 1936 the Bol family emigrated from Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where Kees' father was a leading research scientist at Philips, to Palo Alto, California, where his father continued his scientific work at Stanford University. Kees looked back to his childhood in Eindhoven as a mixture of the idyllic, a life at home romping with his brothers in the family gardens, and the less-than-pleasant experience of enduring a strict and stultifying elementary school. Family life in California was built around his father's entrepreneurship, ranching and farming, riding horses, and education in a system that he found more open and creative. Kees studied physics at Stanford, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1945, and he earned his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1951 at the age of 26.

From the time he was in college Kees was a political activist. He was committed to social justice and equality; it was as a counselor and riding instructor at Frank and Josephine Duveneck's Hidden Villa camp, one of the earliest interracial summer camps, that he fell in love with fellow counselor Markee. Together they joined the Society of Friends, in no small part because of the Quaker commitment to racial equality and pacifism. Eventually Kees also joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation and would serve as Clerk of the Princeton Friends Meeting.

In 1949 Kees moved east to take a position with the Sperry Gyroscope Company on Long Island. However, his previous summer job at Hidden Villa interracial camp was seen by the FBI as a sign of communist leanings, and his security clearance was revoked in 1954. Sperry had no choice but to terminate Kees' employment. Kees then took a job teaching physics at Adelphi College. In 1957 he succeeded in gaining a grant from the National Science Foundation for an experimental study at the Gordon McKay Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Two years later Kees was recruited to work on Project Matterhorn at what was later to become the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Former colleagues remembered his quiet professionalism and his role as a mentor in a career that spanned the beginning of the controlled fusion program at PPPL through the 1980s. His kindness and thoughtfulness made early graduate students that he mentored feel welcome and part of the team.

Kees retired from PPPL in 1987, after which he and Markee spent as much time as possible traveling around the world. Summers were spent at their cabin on beloved Lake Willoughby in Westmore, Vermont. Kees enjoyed hiking, and was active in creating and maintaining hiking trails in Vermont and later at Stonebridge.

Kees was a skilled craftsman and woodworker. After having a house designed and constructed for them in Skillman, New Jersey, he finished the interior and built all the furniture. He and Markee moved to Stonebridge in 2004, where he continued to enjoy reading, gardening, hiking and woodworking. He was active in the workshop at Stonebridge, building assorted items for the Stonebridge community and his children and grandchildren.

Kees will long be remembered for his intellect, patience, kindness, sense of humor, and his natural ability to teach. He was adept at gently turning errors into opportunities for learning. Kees cherished the close friendships he made later in life.

There will be a memorial service for Kees Bol at Stonebridge at Montgomery in Skillman, New Jersey on August 29 at 2 p.m.