John W. Zahradnik

SALMON ARM, British Columbia, Canada - John W. Zahradnik, 87, an internationally known engineer, died Saturday, March 29, 2014, of heart failure, at Lakeside Manor Retirement Home in Salmon Arm, Canada.

John worked in the cusp between engineering and biology. He used his expertise to give people a "helping hand up." From rural villagers in Iran, 40 years of teaching students, and doing research at the University of Massachusetts and the University of British Columbia, and then the Upper Nicola Lake tribe in B.C., John Zahradnik helped improve lives.

After getting his bachelor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University and his master of science degree from Iowa State, John, encouraged by an American Friend's Service Committee in Finland, took a position with the Near East Foundation near Tehran, Iran, in the early 1950's. He worked to provide clean water, sanitation and more productive farming methods for the villagers. His innovations adopted by the Near East Foundation included living among the people and learning their language, which was not the practice with most workers. He spent time with the local villagers and listened to what was important to them. At one point, he talked the village elders out of killing a villager who had broken Islamic law by failing to leave gleanings in his field for the poor; this was the poors only source of income. John convinced the elders to allow the man make reparations and spare his life.

After leaving Iran because of family health reasons, John Zahradnik taught at UMass for 20 years. He started out with apples, designing "controlled atmosphere" storage facilities throughout Massachusetts, then moved to oysters. At various times he was professor in the departments of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Ocean Engineering. During this time, he got his doctorate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. He was principal investigator at UMass Aquaculture Engineering Laboratory at Wareham, Mass. At the University of British Columbia, he taught in the department of Biological Resources Engineering for 20 more years. He retired as an Emeritus Professor. John's real passion though, was teaching students.

As a teacher, one of John's distinctions was having his graduate students pick their own research topic within defined parameters. They would work on it together and publish the results with both students and professors names. This gave the students an opportunity to get hands-on experience that would serve them vitally in their future careers. He was affectionately regarded by his students and was very pleased that seven of his numerous students are now department heads at major universities. Many others are employed by companies like Carnation, General Mills, General Foods, and Kelloggs.

In John Zahradnik's retirement at his sheep ranch in British Columbia, he consulted for the Upper Nicola Indian Tribe. He helped manage their natural resources on the reservation. They gave him the Indian name of "Highwater John" in appreciation for the increased resources that the tribe experienced due to his innovations. He also helped with land reform. While reclaiming rights to their ancestral lands, the tribe became involved in an armed conflict with the Canadian government. John Zahradnik, a former conscientious objector, worked as a mediator to settle things peacefully. In the final years of his life, concerned for the welfare of his sheep, he sold his beloved sheep ranch and moved to Lakeside Manor in Salmon Arm.

John leaves behind four former wives, including Miriam Dayton of Pelham, Mass.; eight children, John Philip (Lorena) of Pelham, Mass., Carl Joseph (Nancy) of Cincinnati, Ohio, Paul of Pelham, Mass., Emily (Stephen Cates) of South China, Maine, Erik (deceased) and Tricia of Vancouver, Benjamin of Amherst, Mass., Max of Vancouver, and Marie of Seattle, Wash.; 10 grandchildren, Charlotte, Abraham, Michael, Sara, Jeffrey, Amelia, Cody, Elizabeth, James and Zachary; and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for John W. Zahradnik Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m. at Mount Toby Friends Meeting, 194 Long Plain Road, Leverett, MA.

Donations can be made to the Mt. Toby Friends Meeting, 194 Long Plain Road, Leverett, MA 01054.

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