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Joseph J. Paterno, Jr.
November 30, 2018

Obituary

GILFORD – Joseph J. Paterno, Ph.D., 77, of 37 Roberts Road, died peacefully in his sleep on November 30, 2018.

Born July 15, 1941 in Boston, Dr. Paterno grew up in Salem, Massachusetts and after spending summer seasons as a child and young boy in Gilford, moved here with his family in 1955. He was a graduate of Laconia High School, Class of 1959. He attended the University of New Hampshire, graduating magna cum laude with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering in 1963. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and president of the NH Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with an MS degree in Chemical Engineering in 1965. Following MIT, he was employed at Avco Corporation working on the re-entry heat shield for the Apollo spacecraft command module. He then attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute under a NASA Fellowship where he took his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering, majoring in Polymer Science, in 1970. While a graduate student at Rensselaer in 1969, he married Nancy Peterson of Gilford and the couple resided in Troy, New York.

From 1970 to 1991 he worked for the Norton Company in Worcester, Massachusetts and rapidly rose through the ranks from senior research engineer to research supervisor to director of R&D to divisional vice president to vice president of worldwide manufacturing and finally to corporate vice president. As part of Norton’s philosophy of developing management talent, in 1978 the company sent him to attend the Executive Summer Program at Dartmouth College’s Amos Tuck Business School. At one point in his Norton career, Dr. Paterno had operating responsibility for all abrasive manufacturing facilities worldwide encompassing 13 plants in 8 countries. He traveled extensively on business throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Japan and South Africa. He was an early advocate of bringing statistical methods to the factory floor to improve process control, quality and cost. He also taught strategic planning at Norton Company’s Management Institute. During his Norton career, he and his family lived in Sterling, Massachusetts.

Following his retirement from Norton in 1991, Dr. Paterno and his family moved to Gilford after he joined the University of New Hampshire staff as the Executive Director of the University’s Industrial Research Center providing technical help to NH companies. He also was an adjunct professor of Chemical Engineering.

Although he formally retired from the University in 1996, he maintained close relations with the University’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences serving in a number of volunteer capacities including assisting the College’s dean with industrial relations and a member and past Chairman of the College’s Industrial Advisory Board. As Board Chair, he led a successful effort to lobby the State Legislature to appropriate $52M to renovate and expand Kingsbury Hall, the aging home of all of the College’s engineering departments as well as the Mathematics and Computer Science departments. This initiative was later expanded with another $63M to renovate James, DeMeritt and Parsons Halls, which house the College’s Earth Sciences, Physics and Chemistry Departments respectively. He also served as a member of the College’s Chemical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments’ Advisory Boards and was a major fundraiser for the College’s New Kingsbury Hall Equipment Fund and the Society of Women Engineers STEM Outreach Program to NH Middle School Girls. In 2001, he and his wife Nancy established the Joe and Nancy Paterno Endowed Scholarship Fund to support UNH undergraduate engineering students from NH. In 2009, Dr. Paterno was presented the annual Distinguished Alumni Award by the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Alumni Society. More recently, he was an adviser to the College’s Society of Women Engineers.

Dr. Paterno was an avid skier and spent countless days at Gunstock Ski Area. He also enjoyed boating on Lake Winnipesaukee. He loved projects and helping friends. He was a devoted son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and uncle.

Survivors include his beloved wife of 49 years, Nancy; one daughter, Joanna Bergman of Gilford; two grandsons, Bradley and Brendan Bergman of Gilford; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, Kenneth Paterno in 1965; his father Joseph Paterno in 1983; and his mother Ailene Cook Orr in 1992.

There will be no calling hours. A memorial service will be held at a later date at the family home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Gilford Public Library, 31 Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH 03249.

Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.

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Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services / 603Cremations.com
164 Pleasant Street
Laconia, NH 03246
603-524-4300