John H. Kemble, noted maritime historian and professor emeritus at Pomona College, died on February 19, 1990 at the age of seventy-seven. Kemble served on the Pomona faculty from 1936 to 1977 when he retired as Warren Finney Day Professor of History. He also served as visiting professor at the U.S. Naval War College and lecutured at the Frank C. Munson Institute of Amercian Maritime History.

Kemble wrote and edited several books on maritime history including San Francisco Bay: A Pictorial Maritime History and The Panama Route, 1848–1869.

Born in Iowa, Kemble graduated from Stanford University in 1933. He received his M.A. and Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley.