John Henrique Avila, PhD
OBITUARY
John H. Avila Jr. was born in San Diego to John Henrique Avila and Arlina da Terra Garcia Avila and was raised in beautiful Point Loma. He attended St. Agnes Grammar School and Saint Augustine High School then studied for one year at UC Berkeley before transferring to Santa Clara University. After graduating from Santa Clara he went on to earn his PhD in Mathematics at the University of Maryland.
Missing family, the weather and outdoor lifestyle of California he and his young family relocated to San Jose in 1970. He worked first for the GE Nuclear Energy Division then moved on to various other Silicon Valley firms, ending at NASA before following his passion for teaching. He taught as a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at San Jose State University and published two books on computer programming. He was a valued mentor to his students and many of the people he met along the way in industry and life.
Shortly before retirement John was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and despite that he was able to enjoy many active years hiking, biking, traveling and programming. His favorite pastime was fly fishing, mainly on beautiful Oregon rivers. His twice weekly connections with a group of friends known as “The Boys” contributed greatly to his robust later years.
In retirement, he and his wife of 62 years traveled several times to Portugal, making use of his gift of growing up bi-lingual. His last trip was with his older grandson to the Azores Islands where his parents lived before immigrating to the US. John is survived by his wife, Winona Avila, daughters Barbara Avila and Elaine Avila and sister Rose Avila, as well as his grandsons, Graham Lampe and Juno Avila-Clark.
The family is grateful for the caring doctors and healthcare professionals at Kaiser San Jose and Kaiser Santa Clara as well as the assistance of Kaiser Hospice and Homewatch Caregivers. If you wish to honor his memory, the family suggests donations to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
A Celebration of Life will be held in the Fall.