James Tonne Obituary
Even as a child, Jim was curious about all the things mechanical and electrical. He earned his amateur radio license while a sophomore in high school and his commercial radiotelephone operator's license while a senior. After college and a two-year stint in the military came a half-century of working in the engineering areas of various high-end companies manufacturing broadcasting equipment.
He was very active in the First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge and was an ordained Elder. Jim was a volunteer at the American Museum of Science and Energy and was a member of the Oak Ridge Amateur Radio Club. His hobbies included photography, cooking and writing software for the engineering community.
Jim is survived by his wife Margaret Tonne in Oak Ridge and brother John Tonne and his wife, Rockie, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge on Saturday, September 27th at 2:00 PM.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James L. "Jim" Tonne, please visit our floral store.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
2 Entries
John W Morehead
January 23, 2026
My condolences to the Tonne family. I became aware of Jim and his work in speech processing in the early 60s when I got my ham license and read his wonderful article on the subject in a 1956 QST magazine. I've been out of ham radio the past 40 years and only recently came back to it and one of the first things I've researched from the old days was that 1956 article on "Compression and Clipping". I fell in love with that unit he built! He will be remembered for lots of accomplishments, but to me that's the one. Thank you!
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John Gunkler
November 29, 2025
Jim, I wish I had known you in person. Your sensitive, beautiful photos have kept me intrigued and enthused about photography for many years. Jim's archives belong in some museum.
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158 South Jefferson Circle, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
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