John E. Johnson

May 9, 1932 - June 3, 2021

John E. Johnson of Tequesta, FL passed away peacefully on Thursday June 3rd at home surrounded by his loving wife and family, he was 89 years old. John was born in Brooklyn, NY on May 9, 1932 to Rudolf John and Alice Hall Peterson Johnson. He received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from RPI and his MS of CE from the University of Wisconsin. On June 12, 1955 he married his childhood sweetheart Geraldine Swan and raised four children. He spent most of his career in liquid air products and was commissioned to design the first liquid hydrogen plant in the country. He worked on both liquid hydrogen and oxygen for the Apollo Space Program and on the desalinization of water at The Oak Ridge National Laboratories. He was a founding member of the Hindenburg Society for hydrogen processing providing fuel for clean energy. In retirement he spent many hours consulting and had a passion for traveling the world and was able to visit all seven continents. John is survived by his wife Geraldine, daughters June Pierce (Anthony Pierce), Jean Hossan (William Hossan), Jan Gombotz ( Wayne Gombotz), Jill Karshmer (Gary Karshmer), his four grandchildren Carolyn Gombotz Choudhary (Abhishek Choudhary), Richard Gombotz, Julianne Gombotz, and Russell Karshmer, and niece Julie Johnson Edstrom (David Edstrom). John was predeceased by his father Rudolf, his mother Alice, and brother Raymond. A celebration of life will take place with family on Kiawah Island SC in August.