LAIRD- John Dale passed away peacefully on April 6, 2015 at his home in Kittery Point, Maine after an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Born on February 26, 1938 in Trenton, NJ, the second son of Max O. Laird and Vivian Shirley, John combined a creative, inquiring mind with an engineer's drive to solve problems. After graduating from Princeton high school, he attended Purdue University, where he received a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering. He earned a master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT while working at Avco Corporation in Wilmington, Mass., where he was closely involved in the design of the Mach 20 AVCO Hypersonic Shock Tunnel and the development of a miniature, high sensitivity pressure transducer. Both were important tools in the development of the Apollo Command Module. In 1963, he left his job to pursue a doctorate at Oxford University. Returning to the US in 1965, he joined the team led by Dr. Arthur R. Kantrowitz at the Avco Everett Research Laboratory that developed the intra-aortic balloon pump, a heart-assist device that is still widely used in cardiac care. His work in this area attracted international attention, which led to his appointment to the newly established Thorax Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where he continued his cardiovascular research - and became fluent in Dutch. A leading authority on the regulation of coronary blood flow, John later became a professor of physiological physics at the department of medicine at Leiden University, where he combined research into the mechanism of the control of coronary blood flow with numerous teaching responsibilities. He moved back to the US in 1990, and worked as an independent consultant for a variety of organizations in the Boston area. In 1995, he became the principal scientist at Abiomed, working on the implantable artificial heart project, which led to the development of a battery-operated device, which was developed as an implantable synthetic replacement heart. After leaving Abiomed, John worked as a consultant to MIT Lincoln Laboratory for several years before finally retiring to enjoy sailing and his eclectic range of other hobbies, which varied from learning to play the organ to amateur radio. Undaunted by his cancer diagnosis, he renewed his amateur radio license last August, passing the examination giving him full privileges on all amateur frequency bands. John was passionate about good food, good wines and whiskey. He spent some of his happiest moments on the enclosed porch at his house in Kittery Point overlooking Pepperrell Cove, watching the boats and enjoying a glass of Scotch. John is survived by his wife Els Overkleeft; his three daughters Karen de Groot-Laird, Elizabeth van der Made-Laird and Anne de Jong-Laird, all residing in the Netherlands; his son, Peter W. Laird, of Grand Rapids, Michigan; his two nieces Julie Ann and Susan Laird; his nephew Keith Laird; 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Cremation has taken place privately, in accordance with his wishes. A gathering to celebrate his life will be held at a later date.