John G. Marinuzzi
March 12, 1936 – May 10, 2017

John passed away on May 10, 2017 after a long illness. He was a resident of White Rock, NM for more than 45 years. John was born in Queens, NY on March 12, 1936. His parents were Giovanni Marinuzzi and Kathleen (Langmead) Marinuzzi. His father was a concert pianist from Italy and his mother had been a governess for the Churchill family in England. John graduated from CCNY in June, 1958 with a Mechanical Engineering Degree, and married Roberta Perrault on August 30, 1958. They began their life journey together and lived in San Leandro, CA while John worked at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory where he was involved with the design of a nuclear ramjet. In 1960, they moved back to New York where John had a position at Brookhaven National Laboratory, on Long Island, NY he was in charge of the Cosmotron. While working at Brookhaven John received a Master’s Degree from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in Industrial Management. While living on Long Island, a friend’s son who had hydrocephalus needed some help in draining the fluid from his brain. John designed a shunt to divert the fluid. He also designed a specialized scalpel for removing varicose veins when his wife needed the surgery and the physician asked if he could help with designing a better tool. In 1968, John and Roberta moved to Los Angeles, CA with their two children while John attended USC under a NASA grant. John studied at the school of Public Administration, receiving a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Doctor of Philosophy from USC. His PhD dissertation was a 500 page study of Artificial Intelligence. In 1972, the family moved to Los Alamos where John worked in WX division, AP division, and the Director’s Office. While working in AP (laser division), he helped design lasers which are now used in many areas including eye surgery and PET scans. John also developed a new group to study Artificial Intelligence. He retired from the Laboratory in 1993.
John loved the outdoors. For years he jogged and rode his bike every day and entered many of the races held in Los Alamos. Several years ago he joined a group of his fraternity brothers (Delta Kappa Epsilon) for a bicycle tour of all five boroughs of New York City. For more than 20 years he went camping in many of the National Parks with his son and a group of their friends, including his fraternity brothers.
He is survived by his wife Roberta of more than 58 years, daughter Sharon Marinuzzi and granddaughters Lauren and Alexandra Poague of White Rock, NM, son John Marinuzzi, wife Stacey, and grandchildren John Stephen and Rianna of Mission Viejo, CA. He is also survived by sisters Palma Kinder, and Elizabeth Gackowski, and several nieces and nephews.
There will be a Remembrance of John’s Life on Friday, May 19, 2017 from 9:00am-12:00pm at Berardinelli Funeral Home, 1399 Luisa St, Santa Fe, NM. A private interment will take place at Guaje Pines Cemetery in Los Alamos, NM.

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