Dr. Jesse Theodore Cherry Jr. PhD

September 22, 1931 - January 3, 2018

Dr. Jesse Theodore Cherry, Jr. PhD, of Licking, MO, passed away Wednesday, January 3, 2018, while at Willow Care Nursing Home due to natural causes. Born on September 22, 1931 to Jesse Theodore Cherry, Sr. and Rose (Genario) Cherry, he was 86 years old. Dr. Cherry grew up in the St. Louis area where he attended the St. Louis University High School and also graduated from St. Louis University where he received his PhD in Geophysics in 1961. During the early sixties, he developed the shear wave VIBROSEIS system at the Conoco Research Laboratories in Ponca City, OK. He received the Virgil Kauffman gold medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 1982 for that accomplishment. In 1963, he began working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There he was the first to develop computer models that produced accurate predictions of the seismic coupling from nuclear explosions. In 1972, Dr. Cherry joined S-Cubed in San Diego, CA where he was the Senior Vice President and member of the Board of Directors. He assembled and supervised an outstanding group of geophysicists, especially strong in theoretical studies directed at improving nuclear monitoring capabilities. He was the first to implement a complete first principles approach to the forward modeling of body waves and surface waves from earthquakes and nuclear explosions. He also led the project involving the inversion of dispersed Rayleigh waves for shear wave velocity structure and source spectra. Dr. Cherry was the President and Founder of Science Horizons, Inc. where he obtained several patents on seismic prediction and geophysical systems. Dr. Cherry and Mary Jane Walsh were married on September 3, 1955 in St. Louis, MO, and to this union four children were born. He and Mary attended St. John Catholic Church in Licking where they were regular members. Dr. Cherry was a loving and caring husband and father. It was said that he loved and greatly respected those he worked with and treated them as family as well. When he had time, he loved to play golf. He also had a great love for animals, and owned several dogs; however, his favorite past-time was his work, and was actively working until his health started to fail in 2015. Dr. Cherry is preceded in death by his parents, and one son, Thomas Cherry. He is survived by his wife, Mary; three children, Mary Eileen Trenton and her husband, Craig, of San Diego, CA; Jay Theodore Cherry of Encinitas, CA; and James L. Cherry and his wife, Helen, also of Encinitas, CA.; a brother, Leo Cherry and his wife, Josephine, of Lake St. Louis, MO; 4 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, and several nieces and nephew. Further surviving is a very special employee and friend, Julie Anderson, and her husband, Mike of Huggins, MO. He will be greatly missed by his family as well as all who knew him. No services are planned at this time. Arrangements are under the direction of Willow Funeral Home. On-line condolences may be left at www.willowspringsfuneralhome.com