Dr. Mark William Cannon Jr.

Mark was born on June 17, 1936, in Braddock, Pennsylvania, the only child of Mark William Cannon Sr. and Ann Murray Cannon.

On November 3, 1962, Mark married Carolann Dorothy Douglass in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. Together, they shared 63 years of marriage and built a family that became the enduring center of their lives.

Mark was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and earned his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He proudly served his country in the United States Air Force. Following his separation from military service, he continued supporting the Air Force as a civilian contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he worked until his retirement.

Retirement did not diminish Mark’s love of learning or his desire to share knowledge with others. He and Carolann taught a variety of courses through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Dayton, continuing a life shaped by education, service, curiosity, and the enrichment of others.

Mark was preceded in death by his parents, Mark and Ann Cannon, and his son, Paul Andrew Cannon, who died in 1975.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 63 years, Carolann Cannon; his daughters, Laura Elaine Stroh and her husband, Todd, of College Grove, Tennessee, and Jennifer Margaret Brinkmann and her husband, Brian, of Weatherford, Texas; and his grandchildren, Ryan Christopher Stroh of Viera, Florida; Alexa Nicole Stroh of Memphis, Tennessee; Nicholas Ian Kallaher of Columbus, Ohio; and Benjamin Arthur Brinkmann of Weatherford, Texas.

Mark’s legacy lives on in the family he loved, the country he served, the work to which he devoted his career, and the many people whose lives were enriched by his lifelong commitment to learning.