John O. Copley

1922 - 2008

Born 8/26/1922, John went to be with The Lord on 11/18/2008. John was born in Bangor, Maine and was raised on the east coast. He attended Williams College for 3 years, and later received his BS degree in Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. His college career was interrupted by WWII when he enlisted as an officer. He was a B24 bomber pilot and flew many missions over Europe. He would go on to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force for 32 years before retiring as a full Colonel in 1973. John's military career was highlighted by his many achievements for the U.S. Defense Space program, working both on the east and west coasts. He made singular and important contributions to the early development of signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications satellites. He was responsible for placing an early SIGINT device on a satellite as one of the first of its kind to achieve earth orbit. He worked with the National Security Agency and other organizations to acquire and process information for national decision makers and the U.S. fighting forces.

John became an author when he was asked to collaborate with one other individual to write the highly classified book chronicling the history of the U.S. space based SIGINT programs.

He received many honors and awards during his distinguished career, including the National Reconnaissance Pioneer Award as one of the 40 founders of the U.S. Defense Space Operations. He was selected as a pioneer because of important and critical contributions to the success of this program. There is a plaque in his honor in the NRO Hall of Fame in Washington D.C.

On the other end of the space communications spectrum, he was one of the first to provide assistance and support for the use of satellites to the HAM radio operators of the world.

He was constantly called upon to provide ideas for new methods of using satellites for communications applications and his contributions were incorporated in many of the U.S. Space based systems.

John came to California from the east coast in 1958, where he met and later married Theresa and had two daughters, Denise and Diane. They moved to Silver Spring, MD in 1964 when John was stationed at several military installations as well as the Pentagon. They returned to CA and settled in Rancho Palos Verdes in 1970, where they resided for the remainder of his life.

He was a humble and unassuming man and will be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, father-in-law, patriot and friend to many. He enjoyed gardening, tropical fish, classical music, building things and tinkering in his garage. He was truly one of the last of the Great Generation. He was an officer and a gentleman, and will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, (914) 432-5400. A Celebration of his life will take place on Monday, November 24, 2008, 1:00pm at Green Hills Memorial Park. Please sign the guest book at www.dailybreeze.com/obits.