James “Jim” David Landon, 76

James “Jim” David Landon of Gilbert, Arizona, formerly of Marshalltown, Iowa, passed away on Friday, June 19, 2020 at home surrounded by his family after his long and courageous battle with Multiple System Atrophy, a rare Parkinson’s-like Disease.

Jim was born in Watsonville, California, on November 15, 1943 to Max and Florence (Lander) Landon where Max was stationed during WWII. The family returned to Marshalltown after the war ended and he attended Franklin Elementary School, Central Junior High School and Marshalltown Senior High School, graduating in 1962. He attended Marshalltown Community College for one year and then graduated with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1967. He married Marilyn Pegg on November 20, 1966 and they were blessed with two wonderful children.

Jim began his engineering career at Emerson Electric in the Electronics & Space Division in St. Louis, Missouri where he was a Senior Electrical System Integration Engineer, working on helicopter and river boat gun turrets for the Viet Nam war. He then began his 21 years in Aerospace Engineering working on Skylab for McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. The family returned to Marshalltown in 1970 and Jim was a Project Engineer in the Corporate R&D Lab at Lennox Industries until Lennox moved their headquarters to Texas. Jim then held the position of Vice-President of Landon-Landon & Associates for 6 years, working with his father and brother, Chuck. He introduced Sun Wise Solar collectors to their product line while at Landon-Landon and then moved to Littleton, CO in 1983 where he continued with his love for the solar business working for Con-Serve Solar. In 1984 he joined Martin-Marietta (currently Lockheed Martin) in the Denver, CO area where he was a Senior Design and Lead Engineer working on the Peacekeeper (MX) Missile Transportation & Handling & Emplacer, receiving many awards and commendations for his exceptional expertise and contributions to the project. As a dedicated Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Space Launch Systems, he completed his distinguished career as a Design Engineer and Technical Lead on the Titan II & IV Centaur Rocket Systems, retiring in 2002.

Jim loved Marilyn, his children, 8 grandchildren and his many dogs and cats more than anything. His gifts were an unusual combination of engineering and art and his hobbies were oil painting, and building scale model WWI airplanes, four of which were on display at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum located on the former Lowry Air Force base in Denver, CO. He was such an incredible craftsman that the museum chose him to build a scale model of Lieutenant Lowry’s WWI Salmson airplane. He created every detail of that plane from scratch using original scale drawings that he ordered from France, and it was prominently displayed at the museum. He was working on another amazing WWI model until just weeks before his death. He also loved to spend time posting and admiring photographs on his Flickr website.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife of 53 years, Marilyn; his children: Deborah Michelle Vrieswyk of San Tan Valley, AZ and Michael David Landon of Mesa, AZ; eight grandchildren: Kendra Wiggins, Bethany Vrieswyk, Heather Vrieswyk, Jonathan Vrieswyk, Ryan Vrieswyk, Katie Vrieswyk, Joshua Vrieswyk, and Benjamin Vrieswyk; one brother: Charles (Julia) Landon; one aunt: Lois Wishmeyer; sister-in-law and brother-in-law: Kathy and Eldon Kaul; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents, one aunt and her husband: Edith (Ray) Malloy, and three uncles and their spouses: Chuck (Mid) Lander, Keith (Ellen) Landon and LaVern (Helen & Evelyn) Landon.

His body has been donated to Research for Life to hopefully help others suffering from Multiple System Atrophy and Parkinson’s Disease.

Memorial contributions may be made to Multiple System Atrophy Coalition at 9935-D Rea Road, #212 Charlotte, NC 28277 or online at www.multiplesystematrophy.org/donate-now, or to Sun Valley Community Church, 20271 E Rittenhouse Rd, Queen Creek AZ 85142

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, June 27th, for immediate family only at Jim and Marilyn’s home, 4072 E. Narrowleaf Dr., Gilbert. AZ 85298, with Pastor Larry Van Laar of Sun Valley Community Church officiating.