Mr. Kerr was born in Normal, Illinois on January 31,1934, the son of the late Vera Belle and Edgar Steele Kerr. He was preceded in death by his sister, a son in law, and a grandson in law.
Mr. Kerr graduated from the University of Illinois in 1956 with a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering. He also earned an MBA from Lynchburg College in 1973.
Mr. Kerr was a member of Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church where he was an elder, past Sunday School superintendent, Sunday School teacher, and Clerk of Session many times. He was a Fellow and Member Emeritus of the American Ceramic Society where he had been past chairman of the Nuclear Division. He was a charter member of the committee on nuclear fuel standards of ASTM and past chairman for many years on the subcommittee on nuclear fuel materials. He was awarded the Anderson award for his service to ASTM. He was a member of the American Society of Materials and past member and Zone Governor of the Brookville Ruritan Club. He was a member of Delta Phi social fraternity and Keramos, the honorary fraternity of Ceramic Engineering.
Mr Kerr married Virginia Grille of Falls Church Virginia in 1956 while employed at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory. They came to Lynchburg in 1961 where he worked at the R&D Division of
Babcock and Wilcox and McDermott, Inc. until 1995 when he retired. His work in nuclear fuels included fabrication, development, and testing of urania, thoria-urania and plutonia-urania fuels as well as uranium carbide fuels. He had authored or co-authored over 40 technical articles, papers and reports.
After retirement, he provided consulting services in nuclear fuels and ultra-high temperature materials to NovaTech in Lynchburg. The ultra-high temperature materials concentrated on materials useful at temperatures above 3600 degrees F.
Jack and Ginny have four children; Sharon K. Johnston and family of Bedford, Dr. John M. Kerr, Jr. and family of Abingdon, Patricia K. Hoar and family of Chesapeake and Moyock, and Mary Anne K. Wade and family of Amherst. Jack dearly loved his wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Mr. Kerr’s favorite pastime was fishing which he enjoyed right up to his death. He and Ginny enjoyed travel and they had visited over 44 foreign countries and all 50 states, many more than once.
A funeral service will be conducted at 2pm on Saturday, February 13, 2021 at Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church.
In lieu of flowers, please send memorial contributions to Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church, 5810 Fort Avenue, Lynchburg, VA.
