AApril 09 1976
Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Friday, April 09, 1976
DONALD BYRNE
Donald Byrne of 714 Allen St., State College, assistant professor of English at the University, 45, died Thursday in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Byrne was captain of the U.S. team in the 1966 and the 1972 Chess Olympics and won the U.S. Open Chess title in 1953. His 1966 team was headed by Bobby Fischer and Mr. Byrne's brother, Robert, also an internationally renowned player and chess authority, and chess editor of The New York Times.
A member of the Penn State faculty since 1961, Mr. Byrne received the BA degree from Yale University and the MA degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a teaching fellow and instructor in the School of Public Health.
He had also served as an instructor at Valparaiso University and at Olivet College.
He was coach and adviser of the Penn State chess team.
Mr. Byrne retired from active chess competition in 1959, receiving the rating of the U.S. Chess Federation. That year he was ranked third behind Fischer and Sam Reshevsky.
In 1954 and 1955, he was a member of the U.S. team that faced the Russian team first in New York, then in Moscow. In the 1954 match he received a special prize for the best score by a U.S. player, and both years received the “brilliancy prize” for his showing against the then Russian champions. He twice placed third in the U.S. Open.
In 1972 he was ranked 12th among the top 50 players in the United States by Chess Life magazine.
In 1946 at the age of 16, he placed fourth in his first Open. In 1962, he competed in the World Team Chess Championships in Bulgaria winding up with the highest score on the US team and placing fifth among 200 individual players. He also played on the U.S. team in the 1964 Olympiad in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Born June 12, 1930 he is survived by his wife Madge; two sons, Christopher and Jonathan, and his brother.
Funeral arrangements under the direction of the Koch Funeral Home, State College, will be announced when available.
April 10 1976
Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Saturday, April 10, 1976
Byrne Services
Funeral services for Donald Byrne of State College, assistant professor of English at the University, who died in Philadelphia Thursday, will be held at St Andrew's Episcopal Church, State College, Monday at 2 p.m., with the Rev. James B. Trost officiating. Dr. Henry Sams, professor of English at the University, will deliver the homily.
Friends will be received at the church Monday from 1 p.m. until the time of service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Arthritis Foundation the fellowship fund for lupus research, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 240, New York NY 10027.
Mr. Byrne was the son of Francis and Elizabeth Cattelier Byrne. Among his survivors are his mother of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his wife, the former Madge Coleman, whom he married Feb. 6, 1954.
Among his memberships was the U.S. and International Chess Federation.
April 10 1976
The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, Saturday, April 10, 1976
DEATHS
Chess Champ Donald Byrne, Ex-Captain of U.S. Team
State College, Pa.—(AP)—Donald Byrne, a former U.S. Open chess champion and captain of the U.S. team for the 1966 Chess Olympiad, is dead at the age of 45.
Byrne, assistant professor of English at Penn State University, died Thursday in Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania Hospital, a university spokesman said.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
The 1966 team which he headed for the Olympiad at Havana included Bobby Fischer and Byrne's brother, Robert, also a renowned chess player. Robert Byrne lost to Russian champion Boris Spassky in Puerto Rico in 1974, two years after Fischer defeated Spassky in Iceland.
A native of Brooklyn, Byrne won the 1953 U.S. Open chess championship. In 1959 he retired from active competition, after receiving the master rating from the U.S. Chess Federation and being ranked as the No. 3 player that year.
He was graduate of Yale University and received a masters degree at Michigan. Survivors include his wife and two sons.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
