John Norby

JOHN ANDREW NORBY, Lt. Col. Retired, USAF John was married to Patricia Moulton Norby for 59 years. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, daughter Jill Marie Norby Black, and sons Christopher, Jay, and Daniel, as well as a sister June Norby Sgroi. Memorial services will be held on Long Island, New York and in California. Lt. Col. Norby was a command pilot and held a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He was a pioneer and recognized authority in the field of space system survivability. He established it as a unique and vital military systems engineering discipline as head of the AF Space and Missile Systems Organization Technologies Directorate in the 1970s. After his retirement from the Air Force, he became Manager and Supervisor of Survivability/Reliability Group for Rockwell International. In that post, he had responsibility for Survivability/Vulnerability planning for Strategic Defense Initiative programs and for the GPS Block IIR spacecraft. In his spare time, John loved working on his homes. He loved to tinker in his shop and was constantly preoccupied with thinking about his next project. John also loved photography and became fascinated with 3D photography early in life. He carried that fascination into the age of modern computers and spent much of his time in retirement working with photography, at times annoying his family and friends with his constant requests for poses and stops to take pictures. He will be missed by all those who knew him.