J. Burton Linker In Memoriam

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.

Joe was the son of math Professor Dr. Joe Burton Linker and Ione Markham Linker. In 1944 he graduated from UNC-CH with a BS in Physics, and was then immediately commissioned as Ensign USNR. He received technical radar training at Harvard and MIT, and was assigned Pacific Ocean sea duty as radar officer on a 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, while simultaneoulsy taking graduate physics courses, pending entering NC State Engineering School. In 1949 he completed his MS in Electrical Engineering and began his technical career at General Electric’s Electronics Laboratory in Syracuse NY.

Joe 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, and was a graduate of General Electric’s high recognized 3-year graduate Advanced Engineering “ABC” Course.