Obituary of John Albert Berberet

John A., known as Jack, Berberet, 90, a nuclear physicist, died November 29, 2009 of congestive heart failure at home in Carpinteria, California. Dr. Berberet held a number of consulting and technical positions during his scientific career. He most recently worked for the U.S. Army as a civilian at Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia and, earlier, at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX, where he tested the effects of nuclear explosions on communications.

John Albert Berberet was born in Canton, MT, in 1919 and grew up on his parents’ ranch near Toston, MT with eight siblings. He graduated from Carroll College in Helena, MT in 1941 and received a doctorate in physics from the University of Washington in 1951. During World War II, he worked as a scientist and helped develop the proximity fuse for artillery shells. He began his post-war career at the Hanford Nuclear Site, Hanford, WA before joining GE Tempo in Santa Barbara, CA, where he was an early expert on Chinese nuclear development. He accurately predicted when China would develop its first nuclear weapon.

Dr. Berberet and his family settled in Carpinteria in 1959. He was a long-time parishioner of St. Joseph Church. In the nineteen sixties he worked on the committee to build the existing church and school. As a board member of Catholic Charities, Jack Berberet was instrumental in creating the thrift store that still serves the South Coast.

In 1963, he, along with his wife Marie and their neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Beckstead, formed the Berberet&Beckstead partnership to purchase twenty-seven acres of hillside land in Gobernador Canyon. The partners terraced the land and planted avocados, creating the steepest avocado orchard in California.

Jack enjoyed backpacking, fishing and documenting Chumash cave paintings in the local backcountry; really hot guacamole; nature; playing Frisbee; body surfing; and all things that grow from the ground, especially tomatoes.

Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Rose Marie Berberet of Carpinteria; five children, Renee Stark of Glendale, CA, John T. Berberet of Santa Barbara, CA, Michelle Berberet, of Alexandria, VA, Suzanne Berberet of St. Joseph, MI and Brian Berberet of San Mateo, CA; two sisters, Pat Austin of Helena, MT and Joan Gilbertz, of Portland, OR; and four grandchildren. Marie Berberet died eleven months after her husband, Jack, on November 11, 2010.