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William A. Jack ’43

William Jack ’43, January 24, 1999, in Cannon Beach, Oregon where he had lived since 1983. He attended Reed for two years and then worked in a shipyard for a year. On the advice of army and navy recruiters, he returned to school to obtain an engineering degree, which he earned at MIT in 1944. He returned to the Northwest and married his wife in 1944. They lived in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City, and Denver for the next 10 years, while he worked in a variety of positions as an engineer. They settled in Whittier, California, and he took a position as project engineer for the Ralph M. Parsons Company, designing propellant plants and oil refining units. In 1963, he left that company to join C.F. Braun & Co., in Alhambra as a systems engineer. He was promoted to a vice president with the company and eventually became manager of the power division, which he had helped start. Health problems encouraged him to take early retirement in 1983, and the couple moved to Cannon Beach, Oregon. He was active in that community and served for four years on the city council, was a member of the Governor’s Rural Health Coordinating Council, and was director of the Union Health District. He also served on the Clatsop County Community Corrections Advisory Committee. He is survived by his wife; three sons; a daughter; a brother; and three grandchildren.

Appeared in Reed magazine: August 1999