Father, engineer, US Navy veteran, avid sailor, musician

Albert J. “Jack” Mallinckrodt died peacefully on March 2, 2018. He was 91.

Born April 24, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri, young Jack joined the Navy in 1944 and was chosen for the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which sent him to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, and then to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. 

At Stanford, he met and married Louann Wallace in 1947 and subsequently earned his PhD in electrical engineering with an emphasis on radio wave transmission, propagation and reception.

His first post-doctoral position took him to Patrick Air Force Base in Brevard County, Florida, where he worked on telemetry systems at nearby Cape Canaveral as it was being prepared for use as a missile test site. 

In 1952, he and his family—which by then included a son, John—moved to Southern California, eventually settling in North Tustin where he and Louann lived for 55 years before moving to Claremont Manor in 2012 to be closer to their son and his wife, Carol.

For the bulk of his career Mr. Mallinckrodt worked as a communications consultant for the Southern California aerospace industry out of an ever-expanding backyard “home office/ham radio shack/computer lab/electronics, wood and metal shop/library/engineer’s dream man-cave,” his son said. 

He was an avid sailor and racer of his own boat, “Swift,” a Newport 41 sloop, and a crewmember on numerous long-distance sailing races, including Hawaii (twice) as well as many coastal Mexican destinations.

He and his family also enjoyed cruising on chartered boats in Alaska, Desolation Sound, the Canadian Gulf and the San Juan Islands. He belonged to and participated in governance and race management at the Balboa Yacht Club (BYC) from age 30 to the end of his life. 

He was also an accomplished musician, playing guitar, ukulele, violin, concertina and organ, and was always in demand for after-barbeque sing-alongs at the BYC’s Catalina station.

Mr. Mallinckrodt is survived by his wife, Louann; his son, John; and his daughter-in-law, Carol, all Claremont residents.