02/23/2021
By George Cheney
John P. “Jack” Leonard, 80, of Lowell, husband of Carol (Evans) Leonard, passed away peacefully on Feb. 9, 2021. A lifelong resident of Lowell, Jack graduated from Lowell High School with the class of 1958 and went on to earn a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lowell Technological Institute (now UMass Lowell) and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.
For 35 years, Jack was a well-respected and well-liked professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Lowell Tech/University of Lowell/UMass Lowell. A thoughtful and committed educator, his dedication to the profession earned him the esteem of colleagues and students alike and multiple outstanding teaching awards. A major highpoint and source of great pride occurred in 1996 when he guided a group of undergraduates to a first place finish in the MIT micromouse competition.
Following his retirement from UMass Lowell in 2002, Jack worked for another 10 years as a software engineer at Raytheon in the Missile Systems Division where he enjoyed the challenge of learning and utilizing new computer languages. After retiring for a second time, Jack continued as Professor Emeritus at UMass Lowell providing computer expertise to start-up projects, including an educational test bench for STEM experiments, and assisting students with senior capstone projects.
For his full obituary, see the Dolan Funeral Home website.