Dr. John M. Osepchuk, passed away on November 28, 2024, Thanksgiving day at the age of 97. He was born on February 11, 1927 in Peabody, MA to Moses and Mary Osepchuk, who had emigrated from Russia’s Ukraine region. In 1944 while still in high school, John enlisted in the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program and was trained as a high-speed radio operator. After being discharged from the army in 1946, he received Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in engineering from Harvard University in 1949, 1950, and 1957, respectively. He joined Raytheon Company in 1950, met Shirley Greenwood Small in the fall of 1955 and married her in June 1956.
John had an outstanding career focused primarily on microwave tubes (magnetrons) and related heating applications (such as ovens) and bioeffects (safety factors). His accomplished career began in 1950, as a power tube division development engineer. He was later promoted as a principal research engineer and consultant scientist in the research division at Raytheon. Writing extensively as a result of his research, John disseminated much of his findings in over 80 scholarly journal articles, and edited a book published in 1983 entitled “Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation”. He also acquired approximately 50 patents, including many magnetron-related patents that have had a considerable impact on the entire microwave oven industry. From the 1970s, he was a prominent figure in countering rising concerns about potential health/safety problems related to diverse applications of electromagnetic energy and was instrumental in the initiation of COMAR, the IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation in 1972.
John retired from Raytheon in 1995, at which time he established Full Spectrum Consulting to continue providing services related to magnetrons and microwave safety issues. In addition to his consulting business, John remained active as a member of the accredited standards committee C95 of the American National Standards Institute in New York since 1968. John was an elected fellow and past president of the International Microwave Power Institute. He was also an elected IEEE fellow in 1978, where he served on several committees and chaired the standards coordinator committee. He was a member of the Microwave Society of the IEEE, an advisor to the board of directors of the Electromagnetic Energy Police Alliance, and a member of the American Science Affiliation and the Bioelectromagnetics Society. He was a recipient of the 1998 IEEE Standards Medallion and the 2000 IEEE Millennium Medal. He contributed to the founding and operating many IEEE activities, was a Life Member of COMAR and the Chairman IEEE MTT-S and SIT-S. He was the President of IMPI and an Editor of Journal of Microwave Power. The latest honor to John was the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who in May 2021.
