Personal Life
Besides his technical books, Pierce wrote science fiction under the pseudonym J.J. Coupling. John Pierce also had an early interest in gliding and assisted in the development of the Long Beach Glider Club in Los Angeles, California, one of the earliest glider clubs in the United States.
Pierce had been a resident of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Pasadena, California, and later of Palo Alto, California. At his death Pierce was survived by his wife; a son, science fiction editor John Jeremy Pierce; and a daughter, Elizabeth Anne Pierce.
In his later years, as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, he and his wife Brenda were known for holding dinner parties in their Palo Alto home, in which they would invite an eclectic mix of guests and lead lively discussions on topics ranging from space exploration to politics, health care, and 20th century music. One such dinner party was reported in This Is Your Brain On Music, written by Pierce's former student Daniel Levitin.
The papers of John R. Pierce are at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
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