George Richard Ahearn
Jan. 8th, 1934 - Oct. 17th, 2019
Resident of Los Gatos
George Richard Ahearn (85) of Los Gatos passed away on October 17th, 2019.
George was born on January 8th, 1934 to George J. and Kathryn A. Ahearn née McEvoy in Staten Island, NY.
George was born and raised in Staten Island. He attended Villanova University and enlisted in the Navy ROTC. He graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he was assigned as a U.S. Navy officer to the National Security Agency. In February of 1957 he married Anne F. Werner, also of Staten Island. While serving in the Navy, he completed his post-graduate studies at Catholic University of America under the sponsorship of the National Security Agency and received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1959. After he was discharged from the Navy he joined IBM and moved to Endicott, NY. In 1967 he and Anne relocated their young family to Los Gatos, California.
George embraced the Sunset Magazine lifestyle of his adopted state; enjoying swimming, jogging, gardening, backpacking, skiing, sailing and golf. After his retirement from IBM, George and Anne traveled in Europe; exploring Italy, Austria, Germany, France, England and of course Ireland. On one of their trips to Ireland he was able to track down and meet his first cousin, Philomena Furlong née Murphy of County Wexford.
George and Anne were married for 57 years. During the final years of Anne's life, George was her devoted primary caregiver. After her death in 2014, George expressed his desire to travel again. True to his word he traveled to New Jersey to visit his sister Helene and her children and grandchildren. With his daughter Anne and her family he visited New York City, Endicott and Cooperstown. He even flew to Europe on his own, bought a Eurail Pass and travelled throughout Italy where he spent some time with his son Tom and daughter-in-law Nancy in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany before heading off again on his own to Umbria, Südtirol, Austria and Switzerland.
In recent years, George became active again in the Knights of Columbus as a member of the Bishop O'Dowd Council and the Portola Assembly. It was through the Knights of Columbus that he met Sandra (Sandy) Perry. Sandy and George were married in July of 2018.
George kept active in his retirement volunteering as an engineer on the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, and as a builder and plumber for Habitat for Humanity, building several houses in the South Bay as well as participating in blitz build events in South Dakota, Tennessee and Southern California. George also joined a group of other retired IBMers as part of a volunteer effort at the Computer History Museum to restore an IBM Model 1401 computer, a system for which he had done engineering design work during his early career.
George is survived by his wife Sandra; his children Anne Haertle (Steve), George, Thomas (Nancy Stillger) and Mary Tang (Alex); his grandchildren Veronica, John and Mira; and his sister Helene Baeszler.
George was preceded in death by his first wife, Anne F. Ahearn née Werner, his son James R. and his granddaughter Maria Elizabeth.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Habitat for Humanity or the Knights of Columbus.

View the online memorial for George Richard Ahearn