John (Jack) Paul Stiglin, 91, passed away peacefully on November 16, 2023, following a short stay at Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, FL.
Jack was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1932. The fourth of seven children, he was the son of Alice (Hughes), a devoted wife and mother, and John Stiglin, a New York City police officer. He attended Our Lady of Angels Grammar School, Fort Hamilton High School, and The City College of New York until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in anticipation of being drafted for the Korean War.
He traveled extensively while in the Air Force, setting up air traffic control systems for the U.S. military—completing his four-and-a-half-year tour as a Technical Sergeant. Following his military discharge, Jack took night classes at Queens College until he launched his engineering career with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During this time, Jack married his first wife, Frances (McGowan), with whom he had four daughters.
Professionally, he spent the next 15 years focused on the installation of long-range radar and navigation systems at airports and in remote areas nationally, overseeing assorted crews who built the air traffic control system upon which today’s more-complex infrastructure rests.
His senior executive positions with the FAA include Chief of the Airway Facilities Division for the New England Region out of Burlington, MA, Chief of the Airway Facilities Division for the Southern Region out of Atlanta, GA, and Deputy Director out of New York. Jack retired from the FAA in 1986 after 31 years of service. His respite was brief, however, as he was recruited by NYMA Corporation where he spent the next eight years.
Though his first marriage ended in divorce, Jack was remarried in 1999 to Mary Beth (Moore) with whom he enjoyed a full and active life until her passing in 2022. Mary Beth and Jack spent the majority of their years together living in the bucolic golf community of Fairfield Glade, TN with annual winters on the east coast of Florida.
Jack lived by a creed that there was always a way to make things better—realistic optimism, strengthened by a sense of humor. He held an innate value for family and providing for his loved ones, a trait he embodied from his earliest years. For all he accomplished, he carried success with humility and found joy in the simple pleasures of life.
Jack is survived by his four daughters, Laura Stiglin and her husband, Ralph Kimball; Tara DeNuccio; Dolores Stiglin-Eddy; Marta Stiglin and her husband, Ralph Martinez; his ten grandchildren, Thomas and Ellen Kimball, Nicole, Kyle, Matthew, and Luke DeNuccio, Joy Mitchell and Matthew Eddy, Jared and Jade Martinez; his three great-grandchildren, Ruby and Norah Mitchell, and Echo Carmichael-Kimball; and his sister-in-law, Eileen Emery.
A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, January 19, 2024, at 1 p.m. at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Lake Worth, FL followed by a private interment at South Florida National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the American Cancer Society in honor of John P. Stiglin.
Jack was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1932. The fourth of seven children, he was the son of Alice (Hughes), a devoted wife and mother, and John Stiglin, a New York City police officer. He attended Our Lady of Angels Grammar School, Fort Hamilton High School, and The City College of New York until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in anticipation of being drafted for the Korean War.
He traveled extensively while in the Air Force, setting up air traffic control systems for the U.S. military—completing his four-and-a-half-year tour as a Technical Sergeant. Following his military discharge, Jack took night classes at Queens College until he launched his engineering career with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During this time, Jack married his first wife, Frances (McGowan), with whom he had four daughters.
Professionally, he spent the next 15 years focused on the installation of long-range radar and navigation systems at airports and in remote areas nationally, overseeing assorted crews who built the air traffic control system upon which today’s more-complex infrastructure rests.
His senior executive positions with the FAA include Chief of the Airway Facilities Division for the New England Region out of Burlington, MA, Chief of the Airway Facilities Division for the Southern Region out of Atlanta, GA, and Deputy Director out of New York. Jack retired from the FAA in 1986 after 31 years of service. His respite was brief, however, as he was recruited by NYMA Corporation where he spent the next eight years.
Though his first marriage ended in divorce, Jack was remarried in 1999 to Mary Beth (Moore) with whom he enjoyed a full and active life until her passing in 2022. Mary Beth and Jack spent the majority of their years together living in the bucolic golf community of Fairfield Glade, TN with annual winters on the east coast of Florida.
Jack lived by a creed that there was always a way to make things better—realistic optimism, strengthened by a sense of humor. He held an innate value for family and providing for his loved ones, a trait he embodied from his earliest years. For all he accomplished, he carried success with humility and found joy in the simple pleasures of life.
Jack is survived by his four daughters, Laura Stiglin and her husband, Ralph Kimball; Tara DeNuccio; Dolores Stiglin-Eddy; Marta Stiglin and her husband, Ralph Martinez; his ten grandchildren, Thomas and Ellen Kimball, Nicole, Kyle, Matthew, and Luke DeNuccio, Joy Mitchell and Matthew Eddy, Jared and Jade Martinez; his three great-grandchildren, Ruby and Norah Mitchell, and Echo Carmichael-Kimball; and his sister-in-law, Eileen Emery.
A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, January 19, 2024, at 1 p.m. at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Lake Worth, FL followed by a private interment at South Florida National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the American Cancer Society in honor of John P. Stiglin.
