resident of the Santa Ynez Valley and, in the last few years, of Vandenberg Village until recently
moving to Sun City West, AZ. He passed away on February 3, 2019 having suffered a brief
illness. He was 72. Born in Bronx, New York to John and Ruth Englert, he was later raised in
Sierra Madre, California with brothers James, Thomas and sister Jean. As an altar boy with a
penchant for troublemaking and fierce independence, John lived the new SoCal life of rock and
roll, fast cars and surfing with his friends. Facing the prospect of conscription, he joined the US
Army Special Forces as a Green Beret in the early Vietnam War and sustained major injuries
that he carried evermore as a disabled veteran. Later, he earned his Bachelors and then
Masters degrees in Mathematics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and State University of New
York Albany, respectively. John met his wife and life-partner Catherine in Hauula, Hawaii in
1974, while living there as a single father of three. They were together for the next 45 years
raising their children Constance, Lisa, Jeffrey, Blake and Justin in their circle of love. An
accomplished mathematician and life-long educator, John taught advanced courses in his
career and was the head of two boarding high school math departments. At retirement he
continued to bring math to life in his Los Olivos-based Englert Mathematics Tutelage. Rock
climbing, guitar playing and surfing were passions enjoyed his entire life with many “dawn
patrols” at Refugio Beach and along Highway 101 in his own modified surfer camper/van,
formerly a flower delivery van. He enjoyed golfing with his youngest son and in the last six
months started to skateboard. He was known for his brilliant mastery of esoterica, as well as a
voracious and eclectic appetite for books, solitude, exquisite gardening and Zen landscaping,
wood carving, homemade rock climbing walls, astronomy and playing lead guitar to the music of
his rock idols Bowie, Clapton and Hendrix. The ultimate Renaissance man, at the time of his
passing he was building a greenhouse made of recycled bottles. One of John’s greatest joys
were his eight grandchildren Victoria, Parker, Molly, Emily, Colton, Mailyn, Eva and Aliya, all
bright stars in the constellation of his life. At Refugio Beach, where he surfed for nearly the last
four decades, a Taps memorial and a scattering of his ashes will take place in September.
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