John Cochrane W8QQ died of congestive heart failure at his home on Friday morning, March 14, 2003. He was 81. First licensed in 1936 at the age of 15 in Brookline, MA, he was an avid ham all his life. He graduated from Harvard University in 1943 and joined the Navy to serve in the Pacific in WWII. He was instrumental in pioneering the use of early shipboard radar and was proud of his contribution to winning the War. After the war he married his wife Ann, and became a petroleum geologist. They had two children, John Jr. and Susan. John and Ann lived in Oklahoma for a while, and he was later a consulting geologist for a time in Peru, where he was active as OA1E, and also in Greece (but couldn't get permission to operate there). He and his family finally settled in Granville, Ohio, where he became W8ILH and ran his own oil and gas company, Jonsu, which he fondly named after his children. He was active in public service events and a persistent DXer, reaching the DXCC Honor Roll and working DXCC on 7 bands, but his proudest achievement was upgrading to Extra Class at age 78 and becoming W8QQ! He was always a gentleman and role model on the air, usually present in the morning Medicare Net on the 2-meter repeater in Lancaster, Ohio, and participating in the Old Codgers' Nets daily on 20 and 40 meters. He loved to tinker with homebrew and commercial ham gear, experiment with antennas, and operated a very respectable home station. He also loved to operate mobile from his car. John was the kind of Amateur Radio operator who was loved and respected by all who knew him.
