John "Jack" Tierney

Jack was born on March 8, 1933 In New York City, the oldest of three boys. He attended Stuyvesant High School and the Cooper Union in NY, finally receiving his Master’s in Civil Engineering from Columbia University.

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

He began his business career with Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Hall and McDonald as a structural engineer designing buildings and bridges. He later moved to Paul Widelinger & Associates, working with world-renowned architects. One of his notable achievements there was as a co-designer of a section of the Rare Book Library at Yale University.

Jack moved the family to New Jersey to take a position at Esso Research, but was lured to the railroad industry, and Baltimore, by a close friend. He took a position in the Marketing Department of the B&O Railroad. As B&O went through several mergers and became CSX, Jack moved into Procurement and Purchasing. Eventually Jack’s career took him and the family to Minneapolis, where he became the Senior Vice President of Purchasing & Technology and President of Burlington Northern Airmotive. Jack was a trailblazer throughout his career, travelling extensively overseas for business in Europe and Asia. He retired from BN in 1989 and moved to DC where he became the Director of the RTC’s asset disposition unit, and finally retired for good in 1994.

Jack remained connected to the railroad industry through his membership in the Retired Administrators of the B&O Railroad (RABO).

PERSONAL LIFE

Jack and Dorothy met as teenage ushers 76 years ago at the RKO Keith Orpheum in Manhattan and married on September 4th, 1954. Before too long they were joined by two daughters, Zoe and Jeanne.

After retirement, Jack did not slow down and continued a life of service that started as a Boy Scout and Scout Master and as the first School Board President of the Trinity School in Ilchester Maryland. He and Dorothy volunteered for over 20 years running the Audio/Visual section of the Stone Ridge Used Book Sale. He was the first President of the Somerset House II Owners Association.

Jack and Dorothy walked the walk when it came to supporting our troops overseas and spent many years preparing and mailing care packages to soldiers, and Jack became a fixture at the local Post Office. During Desert Storm, Jack volunteered with the Yellow Ribbon Fund, dedicated to supporting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital. He became a member of the board and was recognized with a Walter Reed Presidential Volunteer Award. And his service continued as he played chauffer every Wednesday, taking Dorothy and friends to the USO for knitting and crocheting with the soldiers.

Jack was a life-long enthusiast of traditional jazz and at one point had over 5,000 records. He was a member of the Louis Armstrong Society and spent hours listening to, and expanding, his musical collection, which he was anxious to share with anyone he could.

Always a photography buff, Jack moved from making endless slideshows of our family vacations, to a more serious study later in life. He went on multiple excursions with photography professionals to hone his craft and joined the North Bethesda Camera Club. Many of his beautiful photos are hanging on the walls at Somerset House where he lived.

Jack is survived by his loving wife and partner of 70 years, Dorothy; by his two daughters Zoe and Jeanne, and Jeanne’s husband David O’Brien; his granddaughter Katie and her husband Justin Schuman, and the newest addition to the family, his great-grandson Finnegan Jack Schuman.

A celebration of life for John will be held Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 11:00 AM at Joseph Gawler's Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016.