ANTHONY "Tony" DESIDERIO

DESIDERIO ANTHONY MICHAEL Desiderio "Tony" A remarkable father, husband, retired career technical officer and systems engineer, born in Philadelphia, PA, September 26,1943, passed away at age 76, in Montgomery County, MD on May 14th from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was the only son of Antonio Desiderio and Olga Kachmar Desiderio. He was raised in Philadelphia, PA, and attended Lady of Pompei Grammar School where he was active in the choir. Tony graduated from LaSalle College, Philadelphia PA, in 1965 with BA and MA degrees in Physics, where he also participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He continued his studies as a National Defense Education Predoctoral Fellow and in 1970 obtained a Ph.D. in Physics at Notre Dame University, South Bend IN. His Ph.D. thesis work focused on calculating the Lamb Shift of K-electrons in Heavy Multi-Electron Atoms. The work was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and initially published in Nuclear Physics (1968) 116(3): 577-579 entitled "Hexadecapole Moment Effects in Multiple Coulomb Excitation," in which the effect of the electric hexadecapole moment of the first excited state in 56Fe, 114Cd and 152Sm on the inelastic scattering differential cross section in multiple Coulomb excitation was investigated and found to be small. His work was published by the American Physical Society in Physics Reviews A (1971) 3, 1267, which detailed theoretical evaluations of K-electron binding energies for the four heavy closed-subshell transition metals, post-transition metal and Nobel gas atoms, tungsten (W) mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and radon (Rn). Tony was a member of American Physical Society and Sigma Xi, the international honor society of science and engineering with a distinguished history of service to science and society. Following his graduate studies, Tony devoted his career to various Department of Defense systems engineering and integration programs where he provided information management for integrated networks of communications and sensors including the U.S. Army Future Combat Systems, U.S. Naval Air Development Center, Center for Naval Analyses, and extensively on U.S. Navy Sea Shadow Stealth Ship's radar system, the Integrated Command Anti-Submarine Warfare System (ICAPS), and Tactical Employment of Active Sonobuoy. Dr. Desiderio is survived by his beloved wife of 24 years, Fizzeh Sherazee Nelson, M.D., MPH, her two children Blaine Nelson (married to Jill Harper, Ph.D), and Amber Nelson Sweeney and their sons, Gunnar Nelson and Dietrich Sweeney. From his first marriage, Tony is survived by his two children: Lisa Desiderio of Reston, VA and Erik Desiderio and wife Galeit of Los Angeles, CA, and their daughter Ravelle. Tony is remembered and loved by two sisters Barbara Desiderio and Christine Desiderio (married to Fabian Dailey), niece Jeanine Dailey and her children Decklyn, Jaidyn, and Kayla. Tony is remembered for his love and passion for art, theatre, nature, amateur radio, national and international travels and photography. He was an avid tennis player and tennis coach to Fizzeh. In the later part of his illness he was a constant golf companion to Richard Bowie, Fizzeh's brother-in-law. He loved all children and with Fizzeh, he volunteered as a Grand Reader in Montgomery County Public Schools. He was also a volunteer for Montgomery County Mental Health Association. He was a volunteer to several Alzheimer's study groups. Although he could not not benefit from the studies himself, he believed others could. He is greatly missed by his family and loved ones. Funeral and burial will take place at St. Rose of Lima Church, 11701 Clopper Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 on Saturday, May 30, 2020. There will be a virtual ZOOM meeting for those who wish to participate. Please email ambernelson1@mac.com for details. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Tony's top two favorite charities in his name: Doctors Without Borders and or OXFAM.He is greatly missed by his family and loved ones. Funeral and burial will take place at St. Rose of Lima Church, 11701 Clopper Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 on Saturday, May 30, 2020. There will be a virtual ZOOM meeting for those who wish to participate. Please email ambernelson1@mac.com for details. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Tony's top two favorite charities in his name: Doctors Without Borders and or OXFAM.