Born on September 26, 1934, in Framingham, MA, he prepared for college at The Gunnery School in Washington, CT, and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation in 1956, he received a master of metallurgy degree in 1958 and a doctor of science degree in metallurgy in 1961, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1961 to 1971, he was a research metallurgist with Abex Corporation in Mahwah, NJ, and he was vice president of the Kearsarge Metallurgical Corporation in Dover, NH, from 1971 to 1978. Beginning in 1978, he was a self-employed contractor, real estate developer, and a consultant in the field of metallurgy. For some years he was also vice president and then president of JBC Enterprises, Inc., in Exeter, NH. He held two patents of a method for making cast steel railroad wheels and was a director and chair of the New Jersey chapter of the American Society for Metals, as well as a member of the New Jersey chapter’s Advisory Committee. He was also a deacon and trustee of the Congregational Church in Exeter and chair of the YMCA Camp Lincoln Committee, as well as a member of the New Hampshire YMCA’s executive and business committees. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Fraser Dabney, whom he married in 1959; a son, John B. Dabney, Jr. ’83 of West Hartford, CT; two daughters, Laura Dabney Fanney of Virginia Beach, VA, and Elizabeth Dabney Tombros of Santa Monica, CA; a sister, Sally D. Parker of Concord, MA; and four grandchildren.