Donald Maxwell

Donald Elwood Maxwell Aug. 31, 1924 - March 8, 2012 Resident of Piedmont, CA Don Maxwell led a long and fulfilling life with his family, working as a prominent physicist. Don was born in San Jose. After his enlistment during WWII, the Army Air Corps trained Don as a weather officer to serve in the South Pacific and Japan, and discharged him as a 1st Lieutenant in 1946. Don earned his BS, MS, and PhD in physics at Stanford in 1953. While there, he married Shirley Hart with whom he had daughters Mary, Sally, and Marjorie. His professional career began as an Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Subsequently, Don became an experimental physicist at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory where for 12 years he worked in B Division designing nuclear bombs. In 1964 Don married Joan Hoover, a mathematician at the Lab, with whom he had sons Paul and Mike. In 1965, Don entered private industry at Physics International in San Leandro. From 1974-1989, Don worked at Science Applications, Inc., where he did his most creative and productive work. Three years before his retirement, Don returned to the Livermore Lawrence National Laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division. His wife, five children, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren survive him. We invite friends and family to a Monday April 2, 11 am service in the Redwood Chapel at Oakmont Memorial Park, Lafayette with a reception following at the Contra Costa Country Club in Pleasant Hill.