{"id":4851,"date":"2017-09-19T19:46:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T19:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/?p=4851"},"modified":"2019-11-10T17:30:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T17:30:37","slug":"jerry-pournelle-1933-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/jerry-pournelle-1933-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Caroline Seals and Keith Kato<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Jerry.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4852 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Jerry.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"163\"><\/a>With deep sadness we report that science fiction icon and Director on The Heinlein Society\u2019s Board of Directors, Dr. Jerry Pournelle, passed away Friday, 8 September 2017, during a mid-afternoon nap.&nbsp; He and Larry Niven had just returned from DragonCon in Atlanta, GA, and in his final blog entry (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/\">www.jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/<\/a> ) he complained of cold and flu symptoms, attributing it to \u201ccon crud.\u201d&nbsp; Jerry had served continuously on THS\u2019s Board from 2005-2017, and had won re-election in our 2017 elections (by the highest vote total of any candidate) for another three year term before he passed.&nbsp; Despite his multiple professional commitments and obligations, he maintained his presence with the Society because, \u201cI promised Ginny I would.\u201d&nbsp; With the passing of SF Grandmaster Frederik Pohl in 2013, Jerry was one of Robert Heinlein\u2019s last remaining long-term friends.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremiah Eugene \u201cJerry\u201d Pournelle was the epitome of the Heinlein Competent Man.&nbsp; Born in Shreveport, LA on 7 August 1933, Jerry served as an artilleryman with the Army in Korea, and earned three Masters degrees (history, experimental statistics, systems engineering) and two Ph.D.s (psychology, political science). Jerry\u2019s wife Roberta once joked she kept being asked at family gatherings \u201cIs Jerry still in school?\u201d. His multiple careers showed \u201cSpecialization is for insects.\u201d He was Director of the Human Performance Lab at Boeing in Seattle that chose the Mercury astronauts; political campaign research director to Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty; Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles; professor at Pepperdine University; science fiction writer on his own and in collaboration with Larry Niven, Steven Barnes, Michael Flynn, and others; columnist for <em>Byte Magazine<\/em>; columnist for <em>Galaxy Science Fiction<\/em> (\u201cA Step Farther Out\u201d); President of Science Fiction Writers of America, 1973-74; founding president of the Pepperdine Research Institute; and author of many articles on military tactics and war gaming (some of them used as textbooks at the United States Military Academy, Air Force Academy, Air War College, and Naval War College). He is also recognized as the first author to write a novel entirely on a computer.<\/p>\n<p>Jerry&#8217;s service to The Heinlein Society was monumental. His final contribution to THS was a monetary donation that ensured all members would receive their new membership cards\u2014only one small example of his generosity of spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Jerry\u2019s family held a Graveside Service on Friday, 15 September 2017 at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills (6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles CA 90068, in the \u201cComforting Light\u201d section, lot 2072), for family and close friends, and a Memorial Mass at noon Saturday, 16 September 2017, at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks CA. The Pournelle family has requested, in lieu of flowers or memorials, that donations be made to the <a href=\"https:\/\/membership.sfwa.org\/page-308450\">SFWA Emergency Medical Fund<\/a>. The Heinlein Society has made a $250 donation in memory of Dr. Jerry Pournelle, as have several Directors and Chairs of our committees as individuals.<\/p>\n<p>In this month\u2019s Newsletter, you will find an article on the Board\u2019s disposition of Jerry\u2019s vacant seat, to which he had recently won re-election.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>JERRY STORIES<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By Keith Kato<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am startled to say I knew Jerry for 42 years, since the Los Angeles NASFiC in 1975, at (of course) at my first big Chili Party. In my Chili Party history article (up to 2009) in <em>File 770<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/file770.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/File_770_159_pages_35-44.pdf\">http:\/\/file770.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/File_770_159_pages_35-44.pdf<\/a> ) my friends and I sought out \u201cthe one guy who knows significantly something about nearly everything\u201d to help us tap a beer keg\u2014Jerry.<\/li>\n<li>At that 1975 party, Jerry opined I should run a Worldcon (I wasn\u2019t bidding for anything), and he returned several times throughout the night. The last time was about 5:00 AM.<\/li>\n<li>At the 1976 Worldcon, MidAmeriCon in Kansas City, there was a panel of SF luminaries offering their testimonials on RAH. Jerry\u2019s story was about \u201cThis woman he lives with.\u201d Jerry was apparently either visiting or staying with the Heinleins at their Colorado Springs, CO home, when they tried to drive someplace, and found the car tires frozen to the garage floor. As \u201cthese two engineers\u201d wondered what to do, Ginny came out with a kettle of hot water and poured it over the tires, freeing them.<\/li>\n<li>At my 1978 party at the Phoenix Worldcon, Jerry brought the entire Worldcon contingent from Norway to my party because he thought I\u2019d be interested in meeting them. I think somewhere in Jerry\u2019s genealogy, Vikings are there.<\/li>\n<li>At that same 1978 party, Jerry cracked a joke that remains on the ribbons I hand out to this day: \u201cKato\u2019s Natural Gas Company.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Jerry was President of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1973-74. In 1973 he won the inaugural John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.<\/li>\n<li>When the Niven-Pournelle collaboration first formed, the late, great SF artist Bill Rotsler made special name badges for them: \u201cNot Jerry Niven\u201d and \u201cNot Larry Pournelle.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Jerry\u2019s family includes wife Roberta, daughter Dr. Jennifer (research professor in archeology and anthropology at University of South Carolina\u2014leave it to Jerry to sire a female Indiana Jones), and sons (in birth order) Alex, Frank, Phillip, and Richard. Note that Jerry\u2019s son\u2019s names are alphabetical by birth order. I counted four grandchildren at his Memorial Mass.<\/li>\n<li>Roberta Pournelle was a teacher at L.A. Juvenile Hall. She developed a reading program that (I think) is still available.<\/li>\n<li>The Pournelle family kept a series of Siberian Huskies.<\/li>\n<li>Jerry\u2019s service in Korea left him with hearing loss. That was part of the reason he spoke so loudly. However, Jerry and Roberta were long-time subscribers to Los Angeles Opera.<\/li>\n<li>Jerry\u2019s service in Korea also left him with an injury that required his use of a cane for a while. In the Heinlein\u2019s suite at the 1977 Worldcon in Miami, Poul Anderson told the story of Jerry (fake-) weakly fending off a mugger by waving the cane. The mugger grabbed the end of the cane, whereupon Jerry yanked back to reveal a sword blade. IIRC Jerry was a varsity fencer in college. Sword canes are also \u201cslightly\u201d illegal.<\/li>\n<li>Once at Larry Niven\u2019s house I introduced Jerry to my date, who did not read SF. Being a courtly southern gentleman, he kissed her hand anyway.<\/li>\n<li>In Jerry\u2019s <em>Galaxy<\/em> column, \u201cA Step Farther Out,\u201d Jerry repeatedly returned to the theme that the problems affecting humanity could be solved by utilizing space. \u201cSurviving With Style\u201d is what he called it. He wanted to make everyone rich by mining the asteroids to obtain enough consumer metals such that everyone consumed what Americans <em>circa<\/em> 1950 did, while moving mining and processing off the planet. Solar powered satellites were also in his purview. Conversely, his great worry was that eventually problems on earth would swamp every attempt to get to outer space, and doom our species.<\/li>\n<li>Jerry was a political conservative, and not shy about it. He joked he was actually \u201cAn eleventh century liberal.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>One of Jerry\u2019s political science students is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives\u2014Dana Rohrabacher of CA. Tim Kyger, who was Chairman of the 2007 Heinlein Centennial, worked on Congressman Rohrabacher\u2019s staff, primarily for space-related legislation.<\/li>\n<li>The breadth of famous people he knew was astounding. One of his agents was also Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s, so he knew the \u201cGovernator\u201d socially.<\/li>\n<li>He met Ronald Reagan before Reagan was Governor of CA. Jerry said Reagan challenged him \u201cI\u2019ve read more books than you have, Professor.\u201d They compared lists and Jerry (who was competitive as hell) admits Reagan beat him in that regard.<\/li>\n<li>Of course he knew not only all the Mercury astronauts, but also knew the candidates who did not make the cut. Jerry once told a funny story about turning John Glenn upside down and shaking him over a smoky fire, while fake-arguing with the staff, and dropping manhole covers on the floor. Glenn kept a dot in a circle, and his heartbeat remained rock steady (except for one momentary blip when the manhole covers landed), after which Glenn glaringly said \u201cYou son of a [redacted for the delicacy of our readers&#8217; um&#8230;eyes?]!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The Pournelle home was in Studio City CA, and was called \u201cChaos Manor.\u201d Jerry reported running into <em>Castle<\/em>\u2019s Nathan Fillion every so often when walking around, and ran into actress Molly Quinn (Castle\u2019s daughter) at the local post office, and asked \u201cAre you who I think you are?\u201d He was also neighbors with the actor Ed Begley, Jr.<\/li>\n<li>Jerry was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2008 (he seemed to be in pain even at the 2006 Los Angeles Worldcon), which he beat with lots of radiation therapy. He lacked energy in the aftermath, but he noted the same kind of tumor killed Robert Forward. Jerry also suffered a stroke before Christmas 2014, but was back working by mid-2015. Despite his physical impairment, Larry Niven said Jerry\u2019s brain was \u201cstill all there.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Jerry\u2019s last Worldcon was in 2016 in Kansas City. He said Ginny Heinlein had asked him to be their \u201cExecutive Officer\u201d in 1976 in Kansas City. Then (as now) the lack of social graces was apparent; Jerry said some fans were so rude, they dropped books onto RAH\u2019s dinner plate to be signed. In 2016, the Niven-Pournelle contingent made it to that year\u2019s Chili Party, and Jerry heartily ate at least two bowls. One of the \u201cJerry Wranglers,\u201d Los Angeles fan Michelle Pincus, told me of their operational strategy of pre-positioning his walker at stair landings, so that he could take stairs, albeit slowly.<\/li>\n<li>The last time I saw Jerry was at the 2016 Loscon, again at my party. He seemed physically frail, but still worked his way around on his walker. Steve Barnes was talking to me when Jerry came in, and Steve\u2019s face had this expression of sadness. \u201cThe Lion In Winter\u201d came to my mind. But Jerry being Jerry, the description that came to me as he worked his way around as determined as ever, was \u201cmanliness.\u201d You recall in <em>Starman Jones<\/em> the grave marker for Sam: \u201cHe ate what was set before him.\u201d So, too, with my friend Jerry Pournelle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4854 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Pournelle-Funeral.jpg 1431w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Jerry\u2019s Memorial Mass. The presiding priest gave a funny narrative of Jerry\u2019s life, and each of his five children gave some eulogy, as did one of his four grandchildren. Before he started, the priest asked by show of hands how many in the congregation were SF writers, and I\u2019d guess about one-fourth raised their hands. He asked how many were interested in SF, and somewhere between half and two-thirds raised their hands. From my vantage point (I was in the back\u2014see the photo), I saw authors Karen Anderson, Steve Barnes, Greg Benford, Michael Cassutt, Larry Niven, and Tim Powers, Larry\u2019s wife Marilyn, agent Ashley Grayson, and local L.A. fans John Hertz, Michelle Pincus, and Matthew Tepper.&nbsp; Stuff I did not know about Jerry: He was an only child, and was often left alone because his parents eked out a hard-scrabble life during the Depression. He enlisted in the Army at age 16, which was both fictitious and a tad illegal. He met Roberta at the University of Washington, not (as the priest humorously put it) at the library or classroom, but at the local student bar. The priest recounted (to much laughter) that Jerry was instantly smitten, but Roberta initially was not. While Jerry was an only child, Roberta was the youngest of 12, so he was almost immediately part of a large extended family. Jerry was quietly generous with both time and money, not only to his SF colleagues, but to his church, Los Angeles Opera, and battered women\u2019s shelters. As I write this, over 1,100 posting have been made as \u201cWell Wishers\u201d on Jerry\u2019s website. After the Mass, Steve Barnes told me the final Niven-Pournelle-Barnes collaboration was very nearly completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Caroline Seals and Keith Kato With deep sadness we report that science fiction icon and Director on The Heinlein Society\u2019s Board of Directors, Dr. Jerry Pournelle, passed away Friday, 8 September 2017, during a mid-afternoon nap.&nbsp; He and Larry Niven had just returned from DragonCon in Atlanta, GA, and in his final blog entry&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/jerry-pournelle-1933-2017\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2937,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,26,3,65,66,177,74,50,34,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-board-of-directors","category-conventions","category-heinlein","category-heinlein-society","category-heinlein-society-board","category-heinleintoday","category-information-for-members","category-keith-kato","category-pay-forward-news","category-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4851"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6131,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851\/revisions\/6131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heinleinsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}