HEIMMER, John Francis, 78, passed away on September 18, 2019, in Sun City West, Arizona. He was preceded in death by his parents, Harold Heimmer and Kathleen Heimmer. He is survived by his beloved wife of almost 59 years, Rosalie Heimmer; his loving daughters, Darlene Heimmer and her husband, Stephen Worthington, and Donna Heimmer Barone and her husband Michael Barone; granddaughters, Kristine Bogan, Jaclyn Bollettieri, MD, and her husband Josh DeCou, and Julianne Bollettieri, Esq., and her husband Chris McNeal; grandson, Jerome Bollettieri; brothers, Donald Heimmer and his wife Karen Heimmer, and Harold Heimmer and his wife Kay Heimmer; nephews, Steven Heimmer and his wife Carrie Heimmer, and Scott Heimmer and his wife Kelsey Heimmer; niece, Heather Heimmer; and many cherished cousins.
John was born on February 04, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY. John was a very talented baseball player and he played in the Connie Mack league. John completed his graduate and undergraduate work in Physics at Adelphi University, Long Island, NY. His early career included Electronic Warfare Systems Engineering at Grumman Aerospace, Long Island, NY and Spacecraft System Engineer at California Institute of Technology - JPL, Pasadena, CA working on MARS Mariner exploration orbiter spacecraft for future successful landers circa 1967 and beyond. In 1977 he joined the RCA Radar Systems Division in Morrestown, NJ, which became Lockheed Martin in 1993, and was responsible for concept development of the Multi-mission Phased Array Radar (MPAR) for NOAA, the FAA and DoD. Working with the National Severe Storms Laboratory, John helped adapt the Navy's SPY-1 MPAR as a research tool for weather and aircraft surveillance in Norman, OK. It has since become the MPAR concept testbed and a tool for predicting tornados. From 2001 until 2012, John was critical in acquiring the needed $45M for MPAR research. An unrelated major assignment from the University of Oklahoma was to also assist the creation of a research partnership with the Lockheed Martin Corporation and was accomplished in 2012.
Prior to developing the MPAR concept, John participated in battlefield mobile air defense systems, Sea Based Missile Defense (SBMD) and concepts and simulation models for the DoD and naval combat system engineering. After early retirement in 2001 from Lockheed, John established PARTECH Consultants, LLC to continue his involvement in the important MPAR R&D for civilian applications.
John served his NJ and NY communities while holding various elected and civilian appointed offices simultaneously. From 1982 to 1990, John was elected to two 4 year terms as Mayor and Councilman of Mount Laurel NJ. From 1990 to 2005, John was appointed by 3 NJ Governors to 3 consecutive 5 year terms for a total of 15 years as Chairman Burlington County College Board of Trustees. Having designed and built the thriving campus serving his home town and county, John was given the great honor to become Trustee Emeritus of his home-sake University. In addition, from 1990 to 2005, John was simultaneously a commissioner of toll bridges for 15 years, and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders appointed him as Deputy Commissioner of the Burlington County NJ Bridge Commission.
Following relocation to Long Island, NY John was appointed in 2012 to the Brookhaven Long Island Township Suffolk County Business Advisory Council to assist Economic Development in the region.
John and Rosalie relocated to retire in Surprise, Arizona in 2014. John's love, wisdom, brevity, and most of all, his lifelong knack for story-telling, will be dearly missed by his family and friends. John was loved and will never be forgotten by those who knew him.
Visitation will be held on Friday, September 27, 2019 from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM, and again on Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM at Surprise Funeral Care, 16063 W. Bell Rd., Surprise, Arizona. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 4:00 PM at Surprise Funeral Care. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a charitable donation as a tribute to John, to the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org. To sign the guestbook online, and to share memories, and send condolences and well-wishes to the family, please visit, www.surprisefuneralcare.com.
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