Veteran - Served proudly and honorably - World War II Joseph M. Wier passed away on Friday, January 10, 2014 at the age of 89. He was born in Amsterdam, MO and grew up in Humboldt, IA, the oldest of four children. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, he went to Iowa State University to study engineering. His education was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army and served from 1943 until 1946, spending time in England, France and Germany. After his discharge, he returned to ISU, where he met his beloved wife Lois, to whom he was married for more than 65 years. After graduation, they moved to Urbana, IL where Joe continued his studies in electrical engineering, working in the then brand-new field of computer science. He received his PhD in 1955 and moved his family, which by that time included two daughters, to New Jersey to take up a position at Bell Labs, first at Murray Hill and later at the new Holmdel laboratory. For his contributions to the field of data communications, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Electrical Engineering Alumni Association of the University of Illinois in 1982. He retired in 1987. Joe was a man of many talents and enormous intellectual curiosity. A confirmed do-it-yourselfer and skilled, self-taught carpenter, he created many beautiful pieces of furniture and did nearly all the maintenance on their home until well into his eighties. He was a compulsive reader and life-long learner, delving deeply into subjects as varied as the physiology of behavior and the German language. He enjoyed playing golf, especially being able to do so with his grandchildren. He served as a member of the Colts Neck school board and also a lengthy term on the Board of Adjustments. Joe and Lois traveled extensively, making annual trips to Florida and Nantucket, as well as frequent visits to members of his widely scattered family. They cruised the Alaska coast, basked in the sun in Tahiti, Bermuda and the Caribbean and recently he returned to England for the first time since his war service to attend the wedding of a dear family friend. His greatest love was his family and his children and grandchildren accompanied them on many of these vacations. Besides his wife, he leaves two daughters, Susan Mills and her husband Stephen, of Falmouth, MA, and Mary Silver and her husband Harold, of Bridgewater, NJ, four grandchildren, Matthew Silver, of Morristown, NJ, Andrew Silver and his wife Cara, of State College, PA, Gregory Mills and his wife Lisa, of Centerville, MA, and Elysa Mills of Falmouth, MA, a brother, Robert Wier, of Sedona, AZ, and a sister, Carol McBurney and her husband Lloyd, of Humboldt, IA. Another brother, Marvin Wier, of Aitkin, MN, predeceased him. He had numerous nieces and nephews and a wide circle of friends and cherished them all. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, January 22 at 1130 at the Colts Neck Reformed Church, 72 County Road 537 West, Colts Neck, New Jersey, 07722. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to the Colts Neck Reformed Church, P.O. Box 57, Colts Neck, New Jersey, 07722, or to the University of Illinois College of Engineering, via the University of Illinois Foundation, P.O. Box 3429, Champaign, IL 61826-3429.