Obituary of James David Zook, Dr.

Zook, James David 04/25/1935 04/19/2019 James David Zook (David) was born April 25, 1935 to Lester and Elizabeth Zook in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

David spent much of his childhood in Tejupon, Oaxaca, Mexico, where his parents worked as missionaries. In 1956, David graduated with a B.S. in physics from Berea College and married Julia Agnes Barker in August the same year.

Shortly after, David entered a doctorate program in physics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, while Julia taught home economics. David and Julia had their first child, David Scott in 1961 and their second, Suzanne Marie in 1963. Julia and David spent the years raising their children in Burnsville, MN.

After receiving his Ph.D., David took a job as a solid-state physical engineer for Honeywell, where he worked as a research physicist from 1963 until his retirement in 1998. David authored or co-authored over 66 publications in technical journals, earned 14 US patents, and was asked to speak across the globe in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy.

Julia and David divorced in 1992. David met his second wife, Laurel Larsen at Honeywell and they married July 6, 1998. David and Laurel lived in Golden Valley, MN and spent their retirement traveling, biking, hiking and enjoying their family. Laurel passed away on January 30, 2013 and Julia passed away September 10, 2014.

In David's later years, he moved to Covenant Village retirement community, where he enjoyed making new friends, participating in community activities, and continued reading, learning and enjoying his children and grandchildren. David was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2004. His health slowly degenerated over the last 5 years of his life and he passed away peacefully in his sleep on 04/19/2019. David donated his brain to Parkinson's research in the hope of advancing treatment and finding a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Services will be held Thursday, May 9, 2019 at Unity Christ Church on 4000 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55422 Visitation 11:00 am Memorial Service at Noon Luncheon to follow.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Doctors without Borders.