John T. "Jack" Noonan Jr.

John T. (Jack) Noonan Jr., a former Lab engineer, died April 17. He was 84.

Noonan was born on May 26, 1934, to John T. Noonan Sr. and Audrey M. Noonan in Cherokee, Iowa. The Noonan family moved to Livermore, California in 1938 when Livermore's population was under 2,900. He spent one year at Livermore High School and graduated from Hayward High School in 1952. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he spent four years working on flight simulators, giving him an education in electronics.

In 1957 he accepted a position with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he worked until his retirement in 1996. He was one of few technicians to work on the first computers when they were in their infancy, contributing to the advancement of the computer industry, starting with the UNIVersal Automatic Computer and the Livermore Advanced Research Computer.

In the mid 1960s he was awarded a fellowship through the Lab, giving him the opportunity to complete his education at San Jose State University, where he received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering. He graduated Tau Beta Pi.

Noonan worked for five years at Hewlett Packard, where he was project manager for the HP 3000 computer. The HP 3000 was one of the first computers to contract time sharing needs to numerous companies. After retiring from Lawrence Livermore, he worked for two colleges in the Bay Area, where he taught basic and advanced electronics and advanced mathematics.

He was preceded in death by his parent. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Colleen B. Noonan; sister Ann Meiers (Tom); brother Michael Noonan; son David Noonan; daughters Sandra Noonan Rogers (Buddy) and Debbie Jermyn; and grandchildren Amanda and Jonathan Rogers and Heather and Thomas Jermyn.

A special and sincere thank you to his healthcare providers for going above and beyond with his care: Eric, Nichole, Jennifer, Christina, Stephanie and Krystie.

At his request, there will be no services.