John Laurence Gizzarelli, Jr., was born in Quincy, MA in 1938. He graduated from Quincy in High in '56, Boston University in '61. He married Ellen Grossman Gizzarelli who he met in college. They had two sons (Andrew J. Gissarelli, David A. Gizzarelli) and one daughter (Cara E. Downs) John joined the Navy (MOS 1615 - Information Warfare[^1]) in November 1961. In 1962 he was a LT SDO assigned to Cryptologic Warfare,[^1] and was stationed in Spain, Morocco, and Japan but eventually settled in Odenton, MD. He seems to have been assigned to Naval Research[^2] and was still active duty in 1970[^1] (and part of the Naval Reserve through at least 1977). John worked on the 1969 team that created [[PROMIS]] underneath [[Charles R. Work]], [[Joan E. Jacoby]], and project manager [[Bill Hamilton]]. Shortly after, he went to Georgetown University Law School and graduated in 1973. He worked as an assistant [[U.S. Attorney's office|U.S. Attorney]] for the District of Columbia, a federal prosecutor. In 1973 he was also general counsel at [[INSLAW]][^4]. John passed away at age 88 on Thursday, February 18, 2021 at Beth Israel Deaconess HospitalMilton.[^5] --- #### Footnotes [^1]: [Letter from the Secretary of the Navy—Google Books](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Letter_from_the_Secretary_of_the_Navy_Tr/Hm0FbtVsGH8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Gizzarelli) [^2]: [Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers—Google Books](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Register_of_Commissioned_and_Warrant_Off/LjOCQkVxXIQC?hl=en&gbpv=0) [^4]: [Computerworld—Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=sWeKU3wFLREC&pg=PA18&dq=John+L.+Gizzarelli&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwie4-aXsuaFAxUiHjQIHSX9BeU4FBDoAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=John%20L.%20Gizzarelli&f=false) [^5]: [John Gizarelli Obituary](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/southofboston-ledger/name/john-gizzarelli-obituary?id=7198270)