Joe Burton Linker Jr., 92, born in Durham NC, raised in Chapel Hill NC, passed away on 7/21/2016. He was a resident of Carol Woods Retirement Community to which he came after having been away from Chapel Hill for 47 years. He was the son of math Professor Dr. Joe Burton Linker and Ione Markham Linker.

Joe Burton Linker Jr. was a 1935 Charter member of the Chapel Hill High School Band, Trumpet Player. He graduated in the class of 1940. His love of music continued throughout his life as he played trumpet in different College and Village wind ensembles and singing for some 55 years in church choirs and community choruses.

In 1944. Joe Burton Linker Jr., graduated from UNC-CH with a BS in Physics, then was immediately commissioned Ensign USNR receiving technical radar training at Harvard and MIT and was assigned pacific sea duty as radar officer on the naval cruiser as World War II came to an end. Returning to graduate school after active duty he was an Instructor in UNC’s Department of Mathematics as he took graduate physics courses pending entering NC State Engineering School.

In 1949 Joe completed his MS in Electrical Engineering degree and began his technical career at General Electric’s Electronics Laboratory in Syracuse NY. He was honored to be made of member of Eta Kappa Nu, a member of Sigma Xi, and later, a Senior Member of IEEE. He was soon licensed as a professional Engineer in New York. Joe was a graduate of General Electric’s highly recognized three-year graduate Advanced Engineering “ABC” Course.

At General Electric Joe Burton Linker Jr's career was spent in advanced development engineering work and its management in electronics and communications. In 1958 he joined GE’s communications Department in Lynchburg, VA. Here his project was designing of GE’s first microwave telecommunications system for the Southern Railway United States system.

The J. Burton Linker Fund, established by J. Burton Linker, Jr. ’44 of Chapel Hill and Edward M. Linker of Martinsville, Va., in honor of Professor J. Burton Linker, provides for the annual Linker Award. The Linker Award is given by the Department to the graduate student who has shown the greatest effectiveness as a teacher of undergraduate mathematics courses.