James J. Hearn, 85, beloved husband and best friend of Pam, died on January 17, 2022. Jim, variously known as Dad, Jimmy, Grampy, Jimbo, experienced a lifetime of joy and love by being part of the lives of his two families and brother Ned. The various cancers that impacted his health for the last several years gave him an even greater appreciation of the importance of the moments spent with his large family. The 7 children of his first marriage to Marcy Hearn, their spouses and partners, along with that family's 18 grandchildren, were perfectly complemented by the lives of Pam's 2 daughters, their spouses, and their 5 children.

Jim relished being father to James (Janet), Michael (Jeanne), Sean (Michelle), Maureen (Matt), Matthew (Jackie), Meghan (Adam), and Peter and was so thankful for their patience as he strove to be a good Dad. As step-father to Erin (Kevin) and Cheri (Bill), his life was further enriched.

Most of the grandchildren are now young adults but, from their birth, Jim, who chose not to distinguish between the labels grandchildren and step-grandchildren, followed their activities and hopes, and celebrated the achievements, large and small, of each. Caitlin, Brendan, Taylor, Connor, Conor, Brenna, Tes, Maddie, Cassidy, Kiera, Amalia, Jake, Tara, Owen, Luke, Julian, Maura, Tierney, Harry, Riordan, Mitchell, Luis, and Ahnya, were all precious to Jim and enriched his life more than they know.

Born on November 17, 1936 in Philadelphia, PA, to Edwin J. and Gertrude E. (Campbell) Hearn, Jim was the older of two brothers and is survived by his beloved brother Ned (Edward) Hearn (Linda). Jim was a member of the strong West Catholic High School for Boys, class of 1954, and was particularly indebted to two Christian Brothers who took special interest in him, encouraging him to be less introverted, more confident and helped him blossom. With the support of an NROTC scholarship, Jim graduated in 1959 from Villanova University's 5-year engineering/NROTC program with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and commissioned as an Ensign, U.S. Navy and ordered to his Norfolk, VA ship assignment. After 14 months spent mostly at sea as a Surface Warfare Officer, an experience Jim felt helped him mature significantly, he was selected, after 3 days of interviews, for a 4-year nuclear engineering assignment with Admiral Rickover's Naval Reactors Branch. Those four years were instrumental in helping Jim assess his capabilities as an engineer and gave him a realistic appraisal of his leadership potential by comparing himself with his cohort and Rickover's senior civilian managers.

Upon completing his naval service obligation in July 1964, he began a 34-year career with the National Security Agency (NSA) with opportunities to grow in many different domains of the agency's missions. With NSA support, he earned a master's degree, followed by a PhD in electronic engineering from The Catholic University of America, achieved after receiving a one year Agency fellowship. In the years before retiring from NSA, he enjoyed a variety of work responsibilities including a three year tour in Germany and, in his final post, three and a half years in Great Britain. From 1988-94, prior to his final post in London, Jim was NSA's Information Assurance Director, one of the agency's top three civilian positions, and one which gave him experience working with the nation's senior civilian and military leaders. Among the awards he received for his career contributions was the National Intelligence Medal for Distinguished Service. Increasingly, over the last two decades of his career, travel opportunities opened up even more of the world to Jim who, with Pam in the mid-90s, traveled throughout the British Isles and much of Europe as well as visits to Russia, Hong Kong, mainland China and India.

After retiring, Jim consulted part time for 11 years and, because of Pam's initiative, became involved with a wonderful program for seniors at Anne Arundel Community College called Peer Learning Partnership (PLP). Until ill health and the coronavirus interfered, Jim taught courses in cryptography, artificial intelligence, and Chesapeake Bay environmental issues. As significant, however, is what he learned from his talented PLP colleagues about literature and performance art, history, philosophy and music along with the close friendships that he and Pam developed over their years of PLP involvement.

While his work experiences, travels and making good friends in other countries, contributed greatly to Jim's abundant life, the brightest light came from time spent with family. Play acting in made up stories with little ones, reading to them, watching children's faces as they expressed joy or even disappointment, listening, as they grew older, to their aspirations, giving advice when asked for and occasionally when it wasn't, attending naval academy football games with a son and several grandchildren, gave Jim the ultimate experience of how rewarding love and careful listening can be. As he aged, Jim thought increasingly about the many end-of-August Nantucket vacations when his children were young and about the musical performances, dance recitals, swim meets, soccer, baseball, lacrosse and basketball games when he quietly cheered his children and grandchildren. These reflections allowed him to relive the joy wrapped in those memories.

Notable people, whose lives are long remembered by the world in a positive way, leave legacies in written word, in their generosity to others who are less fortunate, in contributions that make the world more secure and hopeful. Probably Jim's favorite word was hope and, in keeping with that, he hoped that he would be remembered not so much by his career or what he wrote, but by how he was as husband to Pam and as a father, grandfather, brother and friend, and how he made those people feel.

A celebration of life will be held in the spring.

Donations in memory of Jim Hearn may be made to the:

Chesapeake Bay Foundation https://www.cbf.org/

My Brother's Pantry https://www.mybrotherspantry.org/