John O. Kessler

1928 - 2022

John Otto Kessler passed away on September 2, 2022 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 93. His was a great life, a lucky life, a life of purpose, imagination, curiosity, and wonder. His was also a life of good humor, puns, sly smiles, and winks of the eye. John loved life. If offered a new adventure, a new opportunity, or a new anything -- John's standard answer was, "sure." He loved to tell stories and did so with wit and glee. He loved to make connections, which led to a life of creativity as well as ground-breaking research. John was born in Vienna, Austria on November 26, 1928 and lived in Austria with his parents, Jacob (Jacques) Kessler and Alice (Lizzy) Blanca Kessler (nee Neuhut) until he was 10 years old. In 1938, his family was forced to flee Austria after his father was arrested by the Nazis on Kristallnacht. They lived in England for over a year before immigrating to the United States in 1940. After going to boarding school in Connecticut for a year, John moved to Jacksonville, FL to be with his parents. In his senior year, he won Honorable Mention in a national science contest and consequently received a full scholarship to attend Columbia University in New York City. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Physics in 1953. In 1950, he married Eva Bondy; they had two children, Helen and Steven. John was proud of his many jobs growing up, such as a newspaper delivery boy, department store window dresser, and brewery chemist. His first job after college was with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in Princeton, NJ. In 1966, the family moved to Tucson, AZ where John became Professor of Physics. John's Ph.D. research was in high energy particle physics. At RCA, his work completely changed, and once at the University of Arizona, it changed again. The last 40 years of his research focused on bio-physics, swimming microorganisms, and fluid dynamics. He loved to hike and particularly loved the desert and mountains of Tucson, the rugged northern California/southern Oregon coast and the redwood forests. He also loved his research and studying the tiny algae and bacteria that almost seemed like his friends. In addition, he loved to travel and always visited art museums wherever he went. If there were gothic churches or castles, so much the better. He had friends, relatives and colleagues all over the world, his closest colleagues being primarily in the U.K. John's wife, Eva, predeceased him in 2014. He is survived by their children, Helen and Steven, daughter-in-law, Anne, and grandchildren, Matthew and Madelyn. He will be greatly missed by his many friends and family, including many wonderful friends at the retirement community Atria Campana del Rio where he and Eva moved 10 years ago. If you would like to make a donation in John's honor, please consider the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC), the Arizona Jewish Historical Society (Phoenix), Friends of Catalina State Park, the Humane Society, or Arizona Public Media. Memorials will be held December 1st at Atria Campana del Rio and December 2nd at Catalina State Park. Please send an email to kesslersj@aol.com, for details.