Paul Joseph Ebert

Paul Joseph Ebert died Sept. 15. He was 84.

Ebert was born on Jan. 11, 1936, in New Orleans, where he graduated from Holy Cross High School. When he was 15, he met the love of his life, Violet Ann Morovich, on a blind date; six years later, in 1957, they married. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge on a physics scholarship, earning bachelor’s of science, master’s of science and doctorate degrees in physics.

At LSU he joined the U.S. Air Force ROTC and after graduation joined the Air Force, moving his growing family to Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Following his military service, he and family moved to Livermore, and he started a lifelong career as a nuclear physicist for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. During this period, he served two temporary assignments in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. Department of Defense and The Office of Management and Budget, and he was part of the Science and Engineering Alliance between LLNL and four Historic Black Colleges and Universities, assuring a supply of top-quality minority scientists. 

He is survived by his children, Edward Michael Ebert, David Alan Ebert (Kit) and Susan Ebert Roberts (Jay), and grandchildren, Nolan Hale Roberts, Suna Rae Roberts and Callum Trey Roberts. He is preceded in death by his parents, Louis Ebert and Nolasco Hart Ebert; his brother, Louis Hart Ebert; his wife, Violet Ann Morovich Ebert; son, Kenneth Stephen Ebert; and daughter, Karen Marie Ebert. 

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the memorial mass at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., New Orleans, on June 12, at 1 p.m. A visitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at All Saints Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Holy Cross High School, New Orleans.