Obituary
Born in 1936, John F. Coburn Jr. forged a path that led from the midwestern working-class city of Akron, Ohio, to the heights of academia and industry. Along the way he travelled broadly – and deeply – living a quintessential, 20th century, American life.
The oldest of three children, John was precocious. Though he excelled at St. Paul’s elementary school, he was often in trouble for talking too much and making mischief. He once smuggled a pet hamster to school in his shirt. John spent long stretches in the principal’s office where he completed a jigsaw puzzle of the world to pass the time. After school, he played with his many cousins and friends in the Firestone Park neighborhood and made frequent visits to the German American Club. At Garfield High School, and later at the University of Akron, John won accolades for academic achievement as well as his participation on the Rifle Team. He was a gifted musician with a beautiful tenor and an excellent ear. As a teenager he was invited to play the piano on a local television program. Years later he lamented that his performance suffered because he was wearing his favorite pinky ring, which clicked on the keys as he played. He was an Eagle Scout.
John and his brother Bob were both raised to embrace the outdoors. Their father, John Sr., taught the boys to hunt and fish. This love of nature would last throughout his life. The family travelled to the Ozarks, where they stayed in a simple cabin along with their baby sister JoAnn and saw the largest spiders imaginable. As it was the 1940’s, the men and boys hunted and fished all day while John’s mother, Catherine, stayed at camp watching JoAnn, cooking and cleaning. She worked harder on “vacation” than she ever did at home. John remained an outdoorsman – hiking, camping and climbing as Scout Master for Cranford, NJ Troop 75 and scaling Pike’s Peak in the 1970’s. His love for the outdoors was passed down to his son, Chris. However, he abandoned hunting due to his profound connection to animals and aversion to violence.
John helped oversee Winnebago Scout Reservation in NJ, where Chris was a summer camp counselor, and later the massive Boy Scout reservation in the Adirondacks. He was ultimately awarded the BSA’s highest honor, the Silver Beaver Award for his volunteer work. This was a man who could always tie a knot, start a fire and find his way home.
At the University of Akron, John studied organic chemistry and enrolled in ROTC. Due largely to his skills in the lab and the recommendation of his professors, he was accepted to Yale University where he pursued a PhD in organic chemistry. His thesis, 1,3 – Dimethylbicyclo (1.1.0) Butane, was the talk of the chemistry community – even reaching the ears of his younger brother Bob, who was studying chemistry at Harvard at the time. John’s research was guided by his mentor, the renowned Professor William von Eggers Doering. At Yale, John also developed his skills as an amateur brewer, learning to make beer at home to enjoy with his friends.
In 1960, John married Elaine Marie White, a bright, witty and beautiful college graduate from Detroit whom he met on a blind date. John and Elaine lived in an upstairs apartment
on Foster Street in New Haven. It was here that one of John’s attempts at brewing beer failed – exploding and spraying broken glass and a yeasty beverage throughout the enclosed porch area. The couple enjoyed folk music, dressing as Beatniks for a period. They travelled to Greenwich Village where they frequented the Gaslight.
It was while living on Foster Street that the young couple had their first two children, Christopher and Catherine, at Grace-New Haven Hospital. Once he completed his degree, John was ready to fulfill his obligation to the Army, and the Coburns moved. First to Fort McClellan in Anniston Alabama, and in 1963 to the Dugway Proving Grounds in Dugway Utah.
As a First Lieutenant in the Chemical Corp, John tested the trajectory of chemicals that would be dropped from planes. During this time, he was exposed to chemicals that likely resulted in lung damage and Parkinsonia – Parkinson’s like symptoms that developed in his later years. Not one to complain or question authority, John only shared good memories about his time in the service. He told his daughter that it was a unique and life changing experience to live and work closely with people from racially and economically diverse backgrounds.
Rather than take the academic route after his service, like much of his “Doering group,” John pursued a career in industry. John took a job in Research and Development at Esso Research and Engineering Co. in Linden NJ and moved the family to the garden state, which would be his home for 40 years. The family settled in Cranford, NJ and had their third child, whom he named Karen. John and the family enjoyed a tight knit community on Franklin Ave., where neighbors gathered often for parties full of singing, smoking cigarettes and drinking scotch.
Esso soon became Exxon, and it was there that John patented the use of Anthranilic Acid Esters as lubricant additives. This approach was ultimately used in the fueling of all airplanes to avoid fuel deterioration and greatly improve air safety and efficiency.
In the early 1970’s, John began commuting to the Exxon Building in Manhattan. Wearing a stylish tan trench coat and carrying a leather briefcase, John joined the stream of men walking to downtown Cranford to take the train or bus into the City. On weekends, John and Elaine would attend the Metropolitan Opera and enjoy dinner at their favorite Chinese restaurant, “4-5-6.”
John travelled extensively for Exxon, mostly to Germany and Italy. Returning home he would bring gifts for the children – stuffed animals, marionettes, and sometimes marzipan, which they did not particularly like. By the mid 1970’s John’s intellectual curiosity and inventiveness landed him in Exxon’s solar division, where at the age of 40 he was named Vice President for Research and Development for Exxon Solar Thermal Systems in Florham Park. The family dubbed him the “Sun King,” a hat tip to his fondness for both Egyptian history and clean energy. There he patented two separate solar collection devices.
Throughout these years, John became fascinated by emerging computing technology and obtained a computer long before they were widely available. Programming became an obsession for him.
Upon leaving Exxon in 1986, John began a second career at Rutgers University’s Center for Advanced Food Technology. This position appealed to his interests in food, research, and academia but also honored his connection to the armed services. A primary focus of CAFT was improving MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) for service members in combat. With CAFT, John was also able to work extensively with the Egyptian government and visited the country numerous times.
In 1993, John and Elaine divorced. The two remained on good terms, even sharing care for the family dog, an apricot poodle named Rosie. John would remain in love with Elaine for the rest of his life. With the divorce, John invested more time and energy into his relationships with his children and grandchildren. Upon his retirement, John moved to Edgewater FL, to be closer to his daughter Catherine and to help his son-in-law’s mariculture company. With time and resources, John was able to travel frequently to the Halkidiki in Greece, where his brother and sister-in-law had a summer home. From there it was just a short trip to Istanbul or Rome, and John explored both. He also frequently visited his other children and their families in California and Colorado.
John remained active, walking several miles each day, until the combination of Parkinsonia and a series of strokes made that impossible. A Registered Nurse, Catherine took charge of his many medical treatments and was a selfless caregiver. Those who encountered John in his later years consistently noted his kindness and gentle demeanor. Like the Boy Scout and soldier that he was, John followed the rules until the end and was a member of the “clean plate club.” He lived his life to the fullest, enjoying a scoop of ice cream whenever possible.
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