James R. Neilon passed away on 21 January 2005 of pancreatitis. At the time of his death, he resided at Heritage Harbor, a senior community in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to his moving there, he had been a longtime resident of Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Jim was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from St. Anselm College in New Hampshire in 1953 with a B.A. in mathematics. He was a student physicist for the Department of the Navy in 1951. In 1953, Neilon received a commission in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and after basic officer training he was sent to Oklahoma State University for meteorological training. He served tours of duty as an Air Weather Service officer, including overseas tours in Paris and Wiesbaden, Germany.
Upon his return from Europe, Jim was selected by the USAF to be a member of the Air Weather Service cadre assigned to the original Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit (JNWPU) that was established in 1954 in Washington and later moved to Suitland, Maryland. The JNWPU was composed of members from the uniformed and civil services, equal funding and staff provided by the Weather Bureau, the Air Weather Service, and the Naval Weather Service (NWS). The unit's mandate was to develop a numerical weather prediction system using state-of-the-art electronic computers to provide useful and timely products to their constituents. Neilon shared in the responsibilities for developing the suite of application programs needed to accomplish the many tasks associated with the mission of the JNWPU. He became an expert in the collection and assimilation of data and in the development of computer programs to display model outputs.
The JNWPU was successful in its mission, and its various components were reorganized and relocated to form centers whose role it was to generate computer-produced products for the specific needs of their customers, both civilian and military. In 1960, Neilon resigned his commission in the air force and joined the U.S. Weather Bureau as a meteorologist assigned to the National Meteorological Center (NMC)-a successor to the JNWPU-in Suitland. A year later, he became a supervisory meteorologist as chief of the Computation Branch, Programming Section in the NMC. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded a M.S. degree in meteorology in 1965.
As the Weather Bureau was reorganized to form the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in 1965 and NOAA in 1970, Neilon's technical and people skills led him to jobs of higher responsibility, and in 1968 he received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service. By 1974, he had been promoted to chief of the Communications Division at the NWS Headquarters. He joined the Senior Executive Service in 1979. In 1985, he was reassigned as chief of the International Affairs Staff, which became a division in late 1986. As a part of his duties during this period, Neilon was fully involved in collaborating with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to further U.S. and world goals for meteorology.
Jim's technical and superb interpersonal skills carried him to the leadership post of president of the WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS). His peers in the international community elected him president of CBS and he served more than two full terms, from 1978 to 1988. The commission addresses operational meteorological matters, including observations, communication, data processing, data exchange, public weather services, and many other subjects in the furtherance of global meteorology. He served as president of CBS during a period when a major revolution was transforming every aspect of the science and practice of meteorology. At the time, both the former USSR and China were still relatively closed societies. As CBS president, he made numerous trips to both countries and developed close personal relationships with many scientists and administrators there. Those relationships helped draw both Russian and Chinese meteorology into the wider scheme of international activities. Jim promoted a level of personal cooperation that few who have worked in international meteorology can match.
He also was an activist in developing programs to support meteorology in developing countries around the world. As an example, Jim was the guiding force responsible for the formation of the International Desks located in the National Meteorological Center (NMC), as part of the World Meteorological Center in Washington D.C. The desks were officially dedicated in a ceremony on World Meteorological Day in March 1993. Meteorologists from the Caribbean and Central and South America have been nominated by their national weather services to spend several months at these desks. These meteorologists are trained to apply centrally prepared weather products from the numerical models to the conditions in their home areas. Upon returning to their home stations, they in turn pass on that knowledge to their fellow forecasters.
Jim retired in 1993 and enjoyed computers, travel, visiting with his friends and family, and his longtime hobbies of stamp and coin collecting. Many recall Jim as a kind and most helpful person. He was a gentleman with a ready wit, a good story, a great smile, and a hearty laugh.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Barbara, whom he met in high school. He also leaves two daughters, three sons, and 11 grandchildren.
-FREDERICK S. ZBAR
[Sidebar]
IN MEMORIAM
PETER HOBBS
1936-2005
FREDERICK G. SHUMAN
1919-2005
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