John Brisbin Rutherford

John Brisbin Rutherford died on February 3 at home surrounded by his family. He was 90. Born March 1, 1923, in Harrisburg, Pa., John grew up on his family's dairy farm, which supplied milk to the Hershey chocolate company. Early on, at the age of 8 or 9, he decided he did not want to be a farmer and fixed on becoming an engineer. After receiving a Purple Heart for wounds from German machine-gun fire in World War II, he earned his B.S. in engineering from Lehigh in 1949 and his M.S. from Cal Tech in 1950. With the late Constantine Chekene, John co-founded the engineering firm Rutherford & Chekene in 1960. The firm's projects include the Cannery and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, among many others. But his favorite project, to which he devoted much of the last 20 years of his career, was protection of Egypt's ancient monuments in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere. Throughout his life, John supported social-justice initiatives. He was active in Citizens for Fair Housing, the ACLU, the anti-war movement—he ran unsuccessfully for California state senate in 1970 as a peace candidate—and the Unitarian church. He will be remembered for his boundless inquisitiveness, his deep generosity, his profound devotion to his wife, Millicent, and his exhortation to all to "Take care, and have fun!"

John is survived by his wife of 68 years, Millicent Rutherford; his three children, Francis Rutherford (Carolyn Steinbuck), Megan Rutherford (Alfred Graham), and Ethan Rutherford; his seven grandchildren; and his three great granddaughters.

Donations in John's memory may be made to the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco.

A memorial service will be held at the First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin Street, on March 1 at 10 a.m.