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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6
3 8
W
e love campfires and enjoy
them regularly in our back-
yard in Mount Pleasant, South
Carolina. Using our usual Friday night
setting, let me share some tales told by
my husband and your president. Often
these tales are in response to questions
posed by our children or neighbors, es-
pecially since we are “from off,” which
means we are transplants, in South Car-
olina jargon.
THE FORMATIVE YEARS
Jon’s Slovak father, Leslie, and
second-generation Italian mother, Ma-
ria, raised Jon and his two older broth-
ers to be hardworking and self-suffi-
cient. In Basking Ridge, N.J., where
the boys grew up, they studied hard,
played sports, explored the nearby
woods, joined Scouts, worked around
the house, got after-school jobs, and
led the National Honor Society. They
also learned a lot from family mem-
bers including their grandfather Carl,
a German sailor who came to America
in 1922, their uncle Dominic, a pattern-
maker for Liberty Ship engine castings,
and their aunt Angie, a guidance coun-
selor’s secretary who had an early in-
sight that typing would be required for
college papers. Jon met other inspira-
tions along the way as well, including
his high school English teacher, Frances
Buys, who suggested he write from a
different perspective, and Al Taylor, his
chemistry teacher, who taught him to
ensure that calculated values are asso-
ciated with units. While in high school,
Jon was first exposed to the metals in-
dustry while working on a junk metal
truck hauling barrels of scrap and also
while working for a jeweler fashioning
gold, silver, and platinum rings. During
these early years, Jon unknowingly be-
came hooked on metals.
Other influences came from Scout
Troop 56 in Millington, N.J., with whom
Jon spent Monday nights and countless
weekends. In particular, Scoutmaster
David Taylor and assistant Scoutmaster
Gerry Harris were two who mentored
and inspired him. Jon still corresponds
with David, who influenced his early
ideas about engineering, civic duty,
and leadership. It was Gerry who point-
ed Jon to the Appalachian Trail (AT). In
1974, while visiting the trail in Pennsyl-
vania, Jon put thru-hiking the AT on his
bucket list before
bucket list
was even a
thing.
THE COLLEGE YEARS
Jon and his brothers were given
the option of going to work or college
and knew this from an early age. Their
parents also made it clear that they
would be responsible for half of their
tuition if they chose college. Jon was
fortunate enough to earn a four-year Air
Force ROTC scholarship. While at Lafay-
ette College, he met two new inspira-
tions: Bennie Ward and Professor Chet
Van Tyne. Working as a river guide in
Northern Maine between his freshman
and sophomore years, Jon met Bennie,
a metallurgist from Reynolds Alumi-
num. Sometime during a week of hiking,
fishing, and camping, the topic of Jon’s
future was sparked around the camp-
fire. Bennie suggested that Jon consider
metallurgical engineering as a career.
Toward the end of his sophomore year—
with Bennie’s comments ringing in his
ears like a blacksmith’s hammer work-
ing iron on an anvil—Jon chose metal-
lurgical engineering over mechanical.
In his junior year, he plunged into met-
allurgy with Professors Van Tyne, McGe-
ady, Gill, and Jones. The next two years
flew by, including a summer internship
in a copper refinery. Upon graduation
and commissioning as a Second Lieu-
tenant, Jon launched for his first assign-
ment at the Air Force Materials Research
Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.
EMERGING PROFESSIONAL
PART I
While in the Birthplace of Aviation,
Jon worked on premium aluminum
castings, durability and damage toler-
ance, design allowables, composites,
carbon-carbon, and emerging mate-
rials property databases. He was wel-
comed into the Dayton Chapter of the
American Society for Metals by David
Lewis, Chapter Chair. This launched
Jon into the Society’s volunteer ranks
at the Chapter level. In 1985, he served
JON D. TIRPAK
Angie Tirpak, Mount Pleasant, S.C.
The Tirpaks enjoy a backyard campfire in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
2015
–
2016 PRESIDENT OF ASM INTERNATIONAL