Biography for

Jack Dostal

as published in the 2009 Pollen Count

Jack Dostal (La Mesa, CA) attended Wittenberg University after high school graduation but took an extended hiatus from higher education to spend his youth in more adventuresome pursuits. He lived in Miami, Florida, and Gunnison Colorado, before spending two years in Las Vegas, Nevada, working as a purchasing agent for a building contractor and teaching swimming as a volunteer at the YMCA.

Jack served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War and was stationed first at the Amphibious Base in Coronado, California, and later aboard the USS Alamo, which was home-ported in Long Beach. After military service, he returned to the Cleveland area for a few years to work for his father’s industrial building products manufacturing company.

In 1972, Jack returned to Wittenberg University and completed his Bachelor’s degree two years later with majors in Biology and Geography. He also attended Harvard University over the summer semester of his senior year to take additional courses in Calculus and Statistics. It was at Wittenberg that he met Beverly Capelle. They married after her graduation in 1975. They moved to Michigan where Jack earned a Master of Science degree in Microbiology and Immunology from The University of Michigan. During this time he was fortunate to co-author a scientific paper which was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

After several bitter winters in Ann Arbor, Jack and Beverly were eager to relocate to a more hospitable climate. They pondered the question “Where would we most like to live?” and decided on San Diego. Soon after their move, Beverly took a job with a public accounting firm and a few years later, after obtaining her CPA license, established her own accounting and tax practice in La Mesa. San Diego was a thriving center for scientific research in microbial and molecular biology, but because the careers aspects of the industry were not especially enticing, Jack instead took a job with Logicon, Inc., in the burgeoning field of computer modeling and digital communications. Logicon was eventually bought by the aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman Corporation and Jack is now in his 30th year as a software engineer with them. It was and remains a wonderfully creative and stimulating place to work and includes among its benefits an office location which is close enough to the beach so Jack regularly bodysurfs on his lunch hour—the ultimate in California living.

Jack and Beverly have two daughters. Their older daughter Elizabeth, has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from The University of Virginia and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Design from The University of Sydney, Australia. She works for an energy design and consulting firm and lives with her husband in nearby Carlsbad-by-the-Sea. Their younger daughter Katherine, graduated from The University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Cognitive Science. She lives in Korea with her Air Force fighter pilot husband and teaches English at Pyeongtaek University.

Jack and Beverly have been avid clog dancers for many years. (For those unfamiliar with clog dancing, it is virtually indistinguishable from tap dancing.) Jack also enjoys opera and classical music, solving math problems, raising chickens and riding his motorcycle. For details of his interests and activities, check his web site at www.jackdostal.com. Jack served as president and member of the board of governors of The University of Michigan Club of San Diego and on the board of the Southern California Clogging Association. Jack also owns the web site www.BHS59.org and hopes to develop it as a place to post memorabilia and pictures from Brecksville school years along with photos and news of his Brecksville classmates.

This spring, Jack and Beverly plan to travel to Korea to visit their youngest daughter Katherine, as they had previously visited their oldest daughter Elizabeth while she was studying in Australia. They also hope to include a two-week side trip to China. As for retirement, Jack says, “I work for a great company, collaborating with bright and congenial colleagues to do interesting work - and they pay me to come to work every day and besides I can’t think of any convincing reason to retire.”

Jack is looking forward to reconnecting with his classmates at the alumni banquet and class reunion in June.