Obituary of John J. Harmon

John J Harmon, 80, of Freehold, NJ died September 26 at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia following a brief illness. He was a lifelong resident of Lawrenceville, NJ before moving to Freehold earlier this year. He is survived by his wife, Elaine (Oberkotter) Harmon of Freehold; his daughters, Wendy Harmon of Freehold and Debbie Harmon of Pennington, NJ; his brother, Peter Harmon of Lawrenceville; four grandchildren, Melina and Nicole Abdo, and Laura and Danny Gironda; Gordan Grguric, who has been like a member of the family for many years; and several nieces and nephews. Born in Orange, NJ, John was the son of the late Herbert and Janet (Johnston) Harmon. A 1955 graduate of The Lawrenceville School, he graduated from Lehigh University in 1959 with a BA in Mathematics. He worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst for several companies, and retired from North American Philips Lighting. After his retirement, he considered himself a professional volunteer. He served for many years on the Lawrence Township Board of Education, several of those as President, and also as President of the Mercer County School Boards Association. He was a past member and President of the Rotary Club of Lawrence Township. He also served on the board of the Old Barracks Museum, Trenton, and the Mercer County Human Services Advisory Council. A lifelong railroad fanatic, he was a member of the National Railroad Historical Society, the Rail & Locomotive Historical Society, and was US Representative to TEFS Ltd., a group that organizes tours for the study of operating steam power railways. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Iowa Pacific Holdings. John was a significant supporter of the Lehigh Wrestling program. He was founder and publisher of the EIWA Newsletter, Director of Sports Information for the EIWA, and served on the Board of Directors of the EIWA. He was on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and an inductee and recipient of the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award in 2014 from the NJ chapter, of which he was co-founder and treasurer. Calling hours will be Sunday, October 1 from 1:00-2:30 pm at Poulson & Van Hise Funeral Home, 650 Lawrence Road, Lawrenceville, with a memorial service immediately following at 2:30PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Clyde F. Barker Transplant House 3940 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.