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Open House Memorial
Please join us in remembering and celebrating the life of our beloved husband, father and friend.
Saturday, April 11th 2-5PM

at our family home
2326 Russell St.

Berkeley, CA 94705

510-848-7273

Please RSVP to:
dunnebacke@gmail.com

Jonathan Stanton Dixon

September 23, 1919 – February 21, 2015

Jonathan Stanton Dixon passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on Feb. 21, 2015. He will be remembered as a loving husband, devoted father and caring grandfather who always put his family above all else. 

Jonathan was born in Rochester, New Hampshire to Mary Russell and James Payson Dixon II. He grew up on a farm across the border in Maine and was the third child of six siblings - Dorcas Agnes, James Payson III, Jonathan Stanton, Donald Frederick, June Achsa and David Carvill.

He studied chemistry and earned a BS in 1942 from the University of New Hampshire then earned his masters degree from Haverford College in 1943.

During World War II, he worked in Chicago with atomic physicist Glenn Seaborg on the Manhattan Project, focusing on the purification of plutonium. He transferred to Los Alamos National Laboratory, arriving in New Mexico on July 16th 1945, the same day as the Trinity test.

After the war ended, Jonathan returned to his studies. In 1953, he earned a Ph.D in chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. He met his wife Thelma Hudson Dunnebacke while there, and the two married on June 9th, 1954 the same day that she earned her Ph.D in experimental embryology. 

The couple moved to Berkeley, California, where he worked as a research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley and UC San Francisco in the lab of Dr. C.H. Lee studying the structure of pituitary hormones including human growth hormone. In 1978, he took a position at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying ozone toxicity.

After his retirement in 1980 he stayed active in scientific research, contributing protein biochemistry expertise and bringing important perspectives to his wife's work on free living amoeba.

Throughout his life, he made time for his family and friends, including playtime at the lab and cross country road trips to New England and Tennessee. Whether it was stories of growing up on the family farm and working at Spaulding Fiber or musing about genetic expression, apoptosis and science in general, he was always looking for someone to share his ideas and curiosity.

Jonathan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Thelma; his children, James (Rebecca), Lindsay (Carolyn) and Frederick (Ginger); and granddaughters Siena and Riquel.