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Jack Collins Obituary

Jack A. Collins Ph.D

Cave Creek - Jack Collins (91) passed away at his home on February 18, 2021. He was born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up on his family farm in Plain City. He was the eldest of four siblings. The first of his family to go to college, Jack went on to graduate from The Ohio State University where he earned his baccalaureate, master's and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering. He became a well-respected expert in the field of failure of materials in mechanical design.

He reached the cherished rank of Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University after having taught students at both OSU (1972-1992) and Arizona State University (1963-1972). He was the author of two authoritative mechanical engineering textbooks which are still in widespread use at numerous universities worldwide. In addition, he was an engineering consultant for over 50 clients, including NASA, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and General Dynamics. His accomplishments included design work on the first artificial heart valve, the V-22 Osprey and crash test dummies, to name just a few. He received numerous ASME Awards over the years including the prestigious International Machine Design Award in 1997 which recognizes eminent achievement in the field of machine design.

He was a selfless leader and spent countless community service hours volunteering for many organizations including serving as chairman of several boards and a scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. As a man of faith, he served his church in various leadership roles.

He married the love of his life while in college who just happened to grow up on the neighboring farm. They raised four children and just celebrated their 63rd anniversary. His hobbies included photography, gardening, camping and cooking huge family pancake breakfasts on Sunday mornings after church. He was a lifelong Ohio State Buckeye fan and had season football tickets for over 60 years.

Jack was preceded in death by his parents, John and Mildred Collins, and his two younger brothers, Don(Maggie) and Dick. He is survived by his loving wife JoAnn, his children and their spouses, Mike(Julie), Jennifer(Larry), Joan and Greg(Heather). Also his grandchildren, Michael, Christen(Bennett), David, Erin, Caden and Marrec, his sister Betty, his sister-in-law Rieta and many nieces and nephews.

Thanks to the Mayo Clinic and Hospice of the Valley. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to The American Diabetes Foundation or a charity of choice.

A virtual celebration of life will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2021 and we invite all family and friends to attend and participate. For more details, please email [email protected].

Published by The Arizona Republic from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24, 2021.
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3 Entries

sorry never knew of Jack"s passing. Slowly losing that generation. Missing many of them. Don't know if you are aware that we lost Uncle Charles last year. I am sure there was celebration in heaven

sherrie eick sampsel

July 16, 2022

JoAnn, You have our deepest sympathy. I just discovered Jack's passing. I very much enjoyed working with Jack in ASME as well as at Babcock and Wilcox in Alliance Ohio. I You invited me to dinner at your home when I was in Columbus. I remembered shaking you hand and you said "Not so hard I just had surgery" or something like that. I heard that Mike was a collector of match books and gave you and him a match book from The Blair House in Washington, DC because my brother in-law was a secret service agent. Anyway, I look to him like a mentor and will always cherish our collaborations. Prayers!

Phil Doepker, [email protected]

Phil Doepker

December 16, 2021

JoAnn

My wife Jayashree and I offer our heartfelt condolences on this occasion. I have had the good fortune to be a colleague of Jack's at OSU from 1979 until he moved to Arizona. He was the first person I met from OSU as he was the person who coordinated my interview and my subsequent hire by OSU. As a colleague, he was always calm and measured in his approach to the daily challenges we all encountered in our professional lives, a good example to follow for a person such as me considerably junior to him. During his final years on the faculty here at OSU, he spent much of his time writing his undergraduate textbook on machine design, a task that he enjoyed despite the magnitude of the task. I did have the good fortune to meet him on a couple of my trips to Phoenix subsequent to his retirement, and was glad to learn from him that he enjoyed his retirement years with his family.

I consider it my great good fortune to have known him and to have worked with him as a colleague.

Cheena Srinivasan

March 20, 2021

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Memorial Events
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Celebration of Life

A virtual celebration of life

For more details, please email [email protected], AZ

Funeral services provided by:

Messinger Mortuaries-Pinnacle Peak Mortuary

8555 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85255

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