John Hartigan

John Hartigan was a coxswain at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1963. In his junior year he coxed the Penn eight to the Eastern Sprint Championship, which they shared with Yale. He served as a coxswain for the US coxed fours at the 1968 and 1976 Olympics. Hartigan also competed at the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games, winning a bronze medal in coxed fours in 1979 and a gold medal in 1983. In 1974 Hartigan coxed the US lightweight eight that won the inaugural World Championship in that event. He continued to compete for many years, coxing at the 1986 Worlds in the lightweight eights. Hartigan overcame spina bifida (myelomeningocoele) to become a coxswain and a college graduate.

Hartigan became an advertising copywriter and promotion manager for what became GlaxoSmithKline, winning two National Wholesale Druggists’ Association Awards for ad campaigns. He later worked as manager of communications and corporate philanthropy for Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, and then was vice-president of creative and editorial services at MEDICI Global, Inc., before retiring in 2009.