John George Mavroides

1922 - 2019

John George Mavroides fell asleep on October 3, 2019. He was born in Ipswich, MA on December 29, 1922, the son of George Anagnostis and Kyriaki (Georgountzos) Mavroides. He was the husband of the late Jean Cadwallader Porter, to whom he had been married for 49 years, and with whom he had two sons, George and Christopher. He will be buried at the Mavroides family plot which is located at the Ancient Cemetery Yarmouth Port, MA where his dearest parents, sister Anna, and wife Jean already are at rest. Funeral Services were held at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Hyannis, MA.
John grew up in Newburyport, MA where he attended the local public schools, graduating from high school there. He then attended the Engineering School of Tufts University and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude. While at Tufts, he worked for the US Coast Guard and Geodetic Service as an air Photographic Observer aboard the survey ship Lydonia, which was charting the US coastal waters of Maine.
During World War II, he served in the US Navy as Lieutenant Senior Grade aboard the seaplane tender USS Floyds Bay, in the Asia-Pacific and China Theatre as part of Fleet Air Wing One. His duties included being the Radar, Sonar and Radio officer as well as a Communications and CIC (Combat Information Center) Watch officer.
After World War II, he joined the US Navy underwater sound laboratory in New London, CT as project engineer in the development of electro-acoustical devices for the detection of submarines and in the development of an underwater telephone.
In 1949, John attended Brown University, where he earned an MS and PhD in physics. He was an RBG Fellow. After graduating from Brown University, Dr. Mavroides joined the research staff at Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, where he spent 32 years doing research on solid state materials. He published over 50 articles and presented his work in numerous conferences and lectures both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Mavroides, a Greek Orthodox Christian, was a supporting member of the Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) which was founded in 1987 as an independent educational organization. He and his late wife Jean were among the founders of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lexington, MA, serving on the first parish council. He also was an early sponsor of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery then in Jamaica Plains, MA.
John and Jean lived in Lexington, MA for 30 years raising their sons George and Christopher. After retirement, John and Jean moved south, first to Yarmouth Port, MA and then to Tequesta, FL. After Jean's death in 2000, John moved to Okeechobee, FL to live with his physician son, Christopher and his wife Bonnie. While there, John belonged to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Fort Pierce, FL. He also served as a consultant to his friend Metropolitan Archbishop Haralambos of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox church in exile.
John is survived by his sons George J. and wife Sally with grandchildren Jessica, Nicholas, and Kelly and Christopher and wife Bonnie with grandchildren Alexis, Andrea, Tristan, Heather, Corissa and husband John, Scott and wife Sarah as well as great-grandchildren Shelby, Peyton, Ethan, Teagan and Logan.