Obituary for John Lawrence "Jack " Nulty Jr.
John L. “Jack” Nulty, Jr. of Sarasota, FL, died of congestive heart failure on January 23, 2021. He was 85. He lived at home with his wife, Barbara. Jack and Barbara were happily married for 61 years.
Jack was born in Orange, NJ, on March 28, 1935; the son of John L. and Catherine Gavin Nulty. He graduated in 1952 from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ, and attended Newark College of Engineering for two years prior to entering USNA in June 1954. He graduated with the Class of 1958’s 9th Co. He was an avid rower and earned awards in Crew.
Jack met the love of his life, Barbara McGreevey, Manasquan, NJ, while traveling home, she from Georgetown, he from USNA, on Christmas leave first class year. They were married in Feb. 1960. They raised a daughter, Patricia Nulty Blaha (Albert), El Dorado Hills, CA and 4 sons, Mark, Vienna, VA, and Peter (Dorothy), Anna Maria Island, FL. He was predeceased by two sons; James died of Leukemia at age 21 in 1985 and Stephen died in June 2020 at the age of 49. Jack leaves four grandchildren: Heather Blaha Surprenant (Matthew) of Stoneham, MA, Eileen Blaha Waters (Thomas) of New York City, James Blaha (Kelsey) of Seattle WA, and Joseph Nulty of Anna Maria Island, FL. He also leaves two great-grandchildren, Genevieve and Felix Surprenant, Stoneham, MA.
Upon commissioning, he attended Flight School and earned his wings in Dec. 1959. He was assigned in Brunswick, ME to VP-7 which he served in until June 1963. He resigned his commission and took a position with Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) in Whippany, NJ, working on Ballistic Missile Defense problems. While with BTL, he earned a masters’ degree in EE (communications) from NYU. In 1968, he took a position with Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in Buffalo, NY, where he continued working on the research and development of Ballistic Missile Defense systems begun at BTL. He spent 5 years, in concert with BTL, designing operational tests for the prototype Nike-X ABM system located on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.
In 1980, he joined the Braddock, Dunn, & McDonald (BDM) Corp. in Albuquerque, NM, where he helped probe the vulnerability of the MX missile system to pre-emptive attack and became program manager for the development of air defense simulation, IFFN, to enhance aircraft identification in a non-IFF environment. At his request, BDM transferred him and his family to the Washington office where his son, Jim, could be treated for Leukemia at the National Institutes of Health. While with BDM, he was a support contractor for the DoD Department of Test & Evaluation at the Pentagon.
In 1985, he was recruited by Planning Research Corp. (PRC) to take on the role of Vice President of Systems Engineering. In 1990, he was recruited by Xerox to manage the Army Computer Aided Logistic Support (ACALS) program and the Navy’s Engineering Drawing Management Information Computer Support (EDMICS) program. He completed his professional career, joining TRW’s System Engineering and Technical Assistance program in support of the FAA.
Jack retired in 2001. In anticipation of his retirement, he and Barbara purchased a golf course lot on the 11th hole of the River Creek Golf Club in Leesburg, VA. They moved into their retirement home in June 2000. Since retiring, Jack and Barbara have become avid golfers and active parishioners at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg.
In Dec. 2017, Barb & Jack left Virginia for the warmer climate in Sarasota, FL. They joined St. Thomas Moore Catholic church.
Jack passed at home with his family at his side. He will be remembered as a loving father, a man of great faith, and a patriot to his country.
Visitation will be on Monday, February 1, 2021 from 9:30am until 10:15am in St. Denis Church, 90 Union Ave., Manasquan followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30am in the Church.
Jack will be buried in the McGreevey family plot, next to his sons, Jim and Steve, in St. Catharine’s Cemetery, Sea Girt, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, PO Box 98018, Washington DC 20090-8018.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the O’Brien Funeral Home, Wall.
Jack was born in Orange, NJ, on March 28, 1935; the son of John L. and Catherine Gavin Nulty. He graduated in 1952 from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ, and attended Newark College of Engineering for two years prior to entering USNA in June 1954. He graduated with the Class of 1958’s 9th Co. He was an avid rower and earned awards in Crew.
Jack met the love of his life, Barbara McGreevey, Manasquan, NJ, while traveling home, she from Georgetown, he from USNA, on Christmas leave first class year. They were married in Feb. 1960. They raised a daughter, Patricia Nulty Blaha (Albert), El Dorado Hills, CA and 4 sons, Mark, Vienna, VA, and Peter (Dorothy), Anna Maria Island, FL. He was predeceased by two sons; James died of Leukemia at age 21 in 1985 and Stephen died in June 2020 at the age of 49. Jack leaves four grandchildren: Heather Blaha Surprenant (Matthew) of Stoneham, MA, Eileen Blaha Waters (Thomas) of New York City, James Blaha (Kelsey) of Seattle WA, and Joseph Nulty of Anna Maria Island, FL. He also leaves two great-grandchildren, Genevieve and Felix Surprenant, Stoneham, MA.
Upon commissioning, he attended Flight School and earned his wings in Dec. 1959. He was assigned in Brunswick, ME to VP-7 which he served in until June 1963. He resigned his commission and took a position with Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) in Whippany, NJ, working on Ballistic Missile Defense problems. While with BTL, he earned a masters’ degree in EE (communications) from NYU. In 1968, he took a position with Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in Buffalo, NY, where he continued working on the research and development of Ballistic Missile Defense systems begun at BTL. He spent 5 years, in concert with BTL, designing operational tests for the prototype Nike-X ABM system located on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.
In 1980, he joined the Braddock, Dunn, & McDonald (BDM) Corp. in Albuquerque, NM, where he helped probe the vulnerability of the MX missile system to pre-emptive attack and became program manager for the development of air defense simulation, IFFN, to enhance aircraft identification in a non-IFF environment. At his request, BDM transferred him and his family to the Washington office where his son, Jim, could be treated for Leukemia at the National Institutes of Health. While with BDM, he was a support contractor for the DoD Department of Test & Evaluation at the Pentagon.
In 1985, he was recruited by Planning Research Corp. (PRC) to take on the role of Vice President of Systems Engineering. In 1990, he was recruited by Xerox to manage the Army Computer Aided Logistic Support (ACALS) program and the Navy’s Engineering Drawing Management Information Computer Support (EDMICS) program. He completed his professional career, joining TRW’s System Engineering and Technical Assistance program in support of the FAA.
Jack retired in 2001. In anticipation of his retirement, he and Barbara purchased a golf course lot on the 11th hole of the River Creek Golf Club in Leesburg, VA. They moved into their retirement home in June 2000. Since retiring, Jack and Barbara have become avid golfers and active parishioners at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg.
In Dec. 2017, Barb & Jack left Virginia for the warmer climate in Sarasota, FL. They joined St. Thomas Moore Catholic church.
Jack passed at home with his family at his side. He will be remembered as a loving father, a man of great faith, and a patriot to his country.
Visitation will be on Monday, February 1, 2021 from 9:30am until 10:15am in St. Denis Church, 90 Union Ave., Manasquan followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30am in the Church.
Jack will be buried in the McGreevey family plot, next to his sons, Jim and Steve, in St. Catharine’s Cemetery, Sea Girt, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, PO Box 98018, Washington DC 20090-8018.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the O’Brien Funeral Home, Wall.