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Mark A. Moynahan Oakland, MD QCWA # 25918 OOTC # 4245 |
Mark Adrian Moynahan, 91, died on Jan 4, 2020, in Rockville.
Mark was born in Brooklyn, NY He and his wife Denise raised their four daughters in Bowie before retiring to Oakland in 1999. He spent his final years in Rockville.
Mark graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School then served in the US Army Signal Corp in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands from 1945-1948. Over the next decade, he worked as an engineer or electronics specialist for a variety of organizations including the Department of the Navy.
He later attended Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and Brown University, where he graduated in 1959 with a bachelor of science degree in physics.
Mark's fascination with electronics and radio communications began early. In high school he was recognized as an electronics wizard, winning several awards for his inventions, including one from the Physics Club of New York City for outstanding achievement in electronics.
During that time, he also obtained his First Class Radiotelephone License. Before joining the army, he was featured in Army Life Magazine in a story captioned, "Genius goes GI."
Later, at Brown University, Mark earned money for school by getting a contract with RCA to design and construct a signal amplifier.
Mark's extraordinary skills in electronics and radio communications led him to a career that spanned the globe. In 1954 he was employed by Page Communications in Goose Bay, Labrador and Thule, Greenland.
From 1957 to 1965 he worked for RCA in a job that moved him and his young family to Japan and Germany.
In 1965 Mark joined the National Security Agency. In 1969 he and his family moved to Alice Springs, Australia where he served as one of the first mission directors at Pine Gap.
Returning to Maryland in 1972, he continued his work at NSA until his retirement in 1988.
During retirement, he architected and oversaw the construction of a geodesic dome home on a mountaintop in Oakland. He and Denise retired there full time in 1999. For the next two years, he worked as an IT consultant to the Garrett County Health Department.
Mark was active for over 70 years in amateur radio and was a pioneer in single sideband. In the mid-1940s, he built and operated a radio station in Alaska, KL700, where he investigated unusual radio propagation.
On his return to Brooklyn he received the call letters W2ALJ. He set up net control stations for emergencies and provided radio service during the 1950 hurricane. He later operated under the call letters W3BEH and finally as K3EE.
He was a lifelong member of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and was active in the Garrett County Amateur Radio Emergency Club (GCARES) and the Maryland Emergency Phone Net. In 2006 he attained the Five Band DXCC certificate for confirming ham radio contact with 100 countries on the 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80-meter bands.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Denise Hillman Moynahan; four daughters: Kimberly Moynahan (Barry), Inverary, Ontario, Canada, Alison Sowers (Robert), Beltsville, Megan Moynahan (William), Rockville, and Hilary Rives (William), Medford, N.J. He has 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
A celebration of Mark's life will be held at Glenview Mansion, 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville, on Feb. 15, from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Memorial donations may be made to the ARRL Foundation or Montgomery Hospice.