Dr. John Asmus passed away peacefully at his La Jolla, California home on Easter Sunday, 2024. He was surrounded by his two daughters, son-in-law and his grandchildren. Born in Chicago, Illinois to William F. and Eleanor Emma (Kocher) Asmus, their small family relocated to the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, California when his father was hired by General Dynamics (GD) in 1940. John, affectionately referred to as “Jack” during his childhood, spent the next 12 years in what he referred to as a Norman Rockwellesque life where, by day, he was a student at McKinley Elementary and afternoons, evenings and weekends were spent on the ranch of his first best friend, 80-year-old, Drayton Arthur “D.A.” Morse, in the hills of East County. John spent countless hours working the orange groves, caring for farm animals, and sitting by the fireside listening to D.A.’s tales of the Wild West.
John’s father accepted a promotion at GD and the family relocated to Montclair, California in the early 1950s, when the area was surrounded mostly by chicken farms. John attended Chaffey High School where he excelled in math and science. He spent his first three high school years working on the McDowell ranch in Ontario. His ranch days ended when he was recruited by the NOLC (Naval Ordnance Laboratory – Corona) as a physical science aid (GS-2). John continued working at NOLC into his first years as an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where he received a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Physics. It was during his time at Caltech, that his second, best friend, Bob Willis, inspired a love of sports cars. John purchased a 1960 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce which served as his transport between his apartment in Pacific Palisades and Caltech during the years of preparing his PhD thesis. This same vehicle took him to Portland, Oregon for a work assignment the summer of 1961 at Tekronix. It was in Portland that John met and fell in love with Barbara Ann Flaherty.
In 1963, after a whirlwind, long-distance courtship, John and Barbara were married. John was recruited by General Atomic in La Jolla, so he and Barbara were back in San Diego. Two daughters arrived shortly thereafter, Joanne in 1965 and Rosemary in 1966. John was recruited away from the West coast to Washington DC in 1969 by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and then again to Albuquerque, NM in 1971 by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). This was a time when John’s career came to a fork in the road, as he was introduced to Walter Munk of Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Out of this collaboration, and the unique set of circumstances, the birth of laser-art conservation was born. As a result, John returned to La Jolla.
Since 1974 John Asmus was a Research Physicist with the Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences at UCSD. He was a co-founder of the Center for Art/Science Studies at UCSD, has published 125 articles in professional journals (lasers, laser applications, plasma pinch technology, and art conservation) and holds 25 patents. During the past forty years, John introduced the use of holography, lasers, ultrasonic imaging, digital image processing, and nuclear magnetic resonance to art-conservation practice. He applied these tools to the problems of divestment, analysis, interpretation, and presentation associated with diverse art-conservation activities including the Qin-Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors of Xi'an, the Ice-Age paintings of Lascaux, and the discovery of the hidden Mona Lisa "pendant". He was instrumental in the founding of professional art-conservation societies. He was awarded the Rolex Laureate for Enterprise in 1990 and is listed in Who's Who in the World. He held adjunct positions with the Universities of Liverpool and Crete and was on G-7, EU, and Acropolis advisory boards as well as editorial boards for the publishers Springer-Verlag and Elsevier.
John was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 57 years, Barbara, but is survived by his loving daughters, Joanne Barron (John Barron), Rosemary and five grandchildren, Kyle Barron, John “JC” Barron, Kaitlin Barron Lupton, Daniel Johnson and David Johnson. His family hopes to publish John’s memoirs in the near future to inspire others to live a creative life and follow their passions and dreams.
A memorial Mass and Celebration of Life will be held in May of 2024 at the Newman Center Catholic Community of UCSD where John and Barbara attended for over 40 years. Details will be announced, at a later date.
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