John H. Mueller III, beloved husband of 62 years to Jane (Michael) Mueller, passed away peacefully October 10, 2024 at the age of 87.  Loving father of Anne Marie (Bruce) Smith and grandchildren Laura and Edward, Elizabeth (Greg) Smith and grandchildren Katie, Caroline, Meg and Sarah, John M. (Amy) Mueller and grandchildren Emily and Robert, and Chrissy (John) Kurtz and grandchildren Lucy (Sean), George (and great grandchild Alice), Max, Tom, Joseph and John Walter.  Dear brother of Sr. Marilyn, David (dec.), and Angela Stockton and beloved son of John H. Jr. and Hedwig (Wissel).

John was born and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and graduated from Louisville St. Xavier H.S. as salutatorian of his class.  John was offered an appointment and attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (where he was a member of the sailing and wrestling teams), his time unfortunately cut short by a basketball knee injury which rendered him medically disqualified to continue.  He completed his studies at the University of Louisville, where he was an editor at the "Cardinal" newspaper, graduating with a Physics degree in 1960.  Despite having a full-time offer from Kodak, his co-op employer, he instead accepted employment with IBM after first falling in love with Washington DC on his recruiting visit, and, shortly thereafter, falling in love with Jane.  At IBM, John was on the cutting edge of the nascent computer industry, one of a small number of the country's first machine language programmers.  As an IBM contractor for NASA, John worked on the Mercury missions at the Goddard Space Flight Center outside of DC from 1960-1963.  After marrying Jane in 1962, the couple moved to Houston where John worked at the Johnson Space Center serving as the head of the Gemini and Apollo design teams from 1963 – 1966, during which time Anne Marie and Elizabeth were born.  From 1966 – 1972, the family lived outside of New York City in Westchester County, the family expanding to its final six with the additions of John and Chrissy.  The family moved to Cincinnati in 1972 to be closer to both John and Jane's families in Louisville and Dayton when John joined Cincinnati Milacron (1972 - 1975).  John later worked for Federated Department Stores (1976) and Armco Steel (1977 - 1990), but finished his career by returning to IBM as a contractor for Armco/AK Steel from 1991 until his retirement in 2015 (while remaining as a part-time consultant until 2019).  He thus ended his career back with IBM as one of a small number of the country's remaining machine language programmers, his professional career coming full circle on two ends.  John was particularly known for his programming skills and, in particular, his code-writing efficiency and had been published multiple times in trade journals.

John's co-op at Kodak engendered his lifelong love of amateur photography which he utilized in documenting countless family memories over the years.  He was never seen at any outing without his omnipresent camera bag slung over his shoulder and was a frequent sharer of pictures with all.  He was a prodigious reader, sometimes reading multiple books a week.  His love of books begot his love of libraries, which is why his lunch hours were spent at the Middletown Public Library volunteering countless hours and leading to his election as president of The Friends of the Middletown Public Library where he served for 25 years.   John and Jane were devotees of the arts as dedicated patrons of the CSO, Cincinnati Opera and The Playhouse in the Park for over 50 years.  A supporter of the Cincinnati St. Xavier football team, John attended almost every home and away game over the last 20 years (including three state championships) with his son and, more recently, grandson.  John was devout in his Catholic faith, attending mass daily at All Saints Church.  He loved his many worldwide trips with Jane as well as the annual extended-family week in Edisto Island, SC, which always included plenty of golf with his son and sons-in-law, that hadn't been missed in over 30 years.  His presence at these events, and many others, will be sorely missed by not just his family, but by untold others who had grown to expect and look forward to his frequent visits.

A Memorial Gathering will occur on Tuesday, October 22nd at Gilligan Funeral Home, 8225 Montgomery Rd., from 5pm – 8pm, and a Memorial Mass will take place on Wednesday, October 23rd at All Saints Church, 8939 Montgomery Rd., at 10:30 am as John had chosen to donate his body to the University of Cincinnati medical program. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the University of Louisville or All Saints Church .

University of Louisville Memorials and Tribute Gifts
215 Central Avenue, Louisville KY 40208
Web: https://uoflplannedgifts.org/memorials-and-tribute-gifts

All Saints Catholic Church
8939 Montgomery Rd, Cincinnati OH 45236
Tel: 1-513-792-4600
Web: https://allsaints.cc/giving