John E. Hiles

John was a pledge brother of mine in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fratertity at UCSB. He was the largest person in the house. He had a wonderful mind, everyoe liked him a lot, even though he was unassuming. He performed all the difficult and odd tasks of pedging a fraternity with the rest of us, never complai ing. Our group was a pile of very unusual people, artists, scientists, rabbis, professinals, politicians, and generally every hue of those successful but outside the bounds of normal. John fit in well and we like to think the experience he had with us then fit into his life pattern of success and kindness.

I hired John into the Naval Postgraduate School, sometime around 1998/99. John was my favorite person to talk to there as he always had a great analytic mind & could show you all the ways to look at an issue. We would often go out to lunch at The Great Wall for Chinese food - he would flip over the placemat & start drawing a diagram of the issue we were discussing, showing me all the sides & things to consider. When I left NPS, I tried to visit him every Christmas holiday to have lunch & to catch up. This year I sent him an email asking if he had time & I never received a response - he was already gone.
John taught a large number of students at NPS & he tried to show those students how to be analytic & draw the same kinds of mind maps & diagrams we would work through a lunch. He will be greatly missed! Michael Zyda, [email protected]