Dr. José Vergara Martinez

March 19, 1932 – November 29, 2025
Dr. José Vergara Martinez, affectionately known as Joe to friends and "JV" to colleagues, passed away peacefully at home in Silver Spring, MD, on November 29, 2025, surrounded by his devoted wife, Jayme, and their family. He was 93. Exceptional, humble, and steadfastly principled, Joe lived a life shaped by curiosity, quiet determination, and a belief that opportunity should be available to everyone.

Born in Flagstaff, Arizona, to Vicente and Procora Martinez, Mexican immigrants raising their family on the south side of the railroad tracks, Joe grew up without electricity or running water. From an early age, he learned resourcefulness, perseverance, and the value of education. As a boy, he shined the shoes of soldiers traveling to the Pacific during World War II, proudly contributing his earnings to his parents.

A gifted student, Joe graduated from Flagstaff High School and earned a BA in Physics from Northern Arizona University in 1954. That same year, he married his college sweetheart, Jayme Stewart Deppe, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Their partnership of mutual support, humor, and deep affection lasted more than 71 years as they raised six children together.

Joe completed graduate studies at Washington State University and Oregon State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 1962, becoming the first U.S.-born Latino to do so. After post-doctoral work at Cornell University, he built a distinguished career across academia, industry, and government. He held scientific and leadership positions at Eastman Kodak and Xerox and later founded and chaired the Physics Department at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York.

In the early 1970s, Joe and his family settled in Maryland, where he began more than four decades of federal service at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and later the Department of Energy. He earned an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management in 1978 and served as a Principal Science Advisor in the Senior Executive Service, helping shape national research programs and mentoring generations of scientists. He retired in 2013.

Joe's career was inseparable from his commitment to expanding opportunity. A founder and key architect of the Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), he helped establish the organization's early vision 52 years ago that now has 9,000 members. His legacy lives on in the thousands of students whose horizons he widened through advocacy, mentorship, and example.

Above all, Joe cherished his family. He is survived by his beloved wife, Jayme, their six children. Capri, Mario (Naomi), Neo, Tanya, Ancel (Gina), René (Amy), and ten grandchildren. He also leaves behind Ingrid Weigand and Jeni Webber, whom he helped raise and always considered family; his sisters, Matilde Liebe and Cecilia Cuevas; his cousin Eddie Vergara; and their families. Joe often said that whatever he achieved in life came from the sacrifices of his parents, the teachers who believed in him, and the unwavering companionship of the woman he loved. When asked the greatest blessing of his life, he answered without hesitation: "I married well."

A Memorial Mass for East Coast family and friends will be held at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 18 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland. In accordance with his wishes, Joe will be laid to rest in his hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, at a later date.