The present obituary was published in New York Times on August 31, 1988.
John F. Riordan, a mathematician and engineer who was on the technical staff of Bell Laboratories for 42 years and later taught at Rockefeller University, died of Alzheimer's disease Saturday at the Ocean Manor nursing home in Scituate, Mass., where he lived. He was 85 years old.
Mr. Riordan, a graduate of Yale who specialized in combinational mathematics, wrote several books on the subject. He joined Bell Labs in 1926, shortly after they were established, and retired in 1968, when he became a member of the adjunct staff at Rockefeller.
He is survived by two daughters, Sheila B., of Scituate, and Kathleen T. Speeth of El Cerrito, Calif., and East Hampton, L.I.; six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.