Jonathan Edgar Fay, 59, passed away on Sunday, October 5th, 2025 at his family home in Anacortes, WA while sick with COVID. He was surrounded by his wife, Karen and his eldest Jamie, who held him and did everything they could to resuscitate him until paramedics could step in.

Jonathan was born in Córdoba, Argentina and spent the first seven years of his life in a little town called Almafuerte. He lived there with his parents – Marjorie Hurlbut Fay and Edgar Nelson Fay; his siblings – Sylvia Paulsen, James “Benjamin” O’Niel, and Ted Fay; and their sheepdog Pepe.

When he was 7, Jonathan’s family moved to California where his father worked in the hotel industry. Each summer, his dad would get the rest of the family settled at June Lake before spending the busy season away working. One summer as a teenager, Jonathan spent his summer allowance on a raffle ticket that won him his first computer and a pallet of sodas, the latter of which he sold to one of the hotels his dad worked for, and the former which launched his computer science career. At 16, he wrote the first ever spreadsheet charting software, Chart-Ex, which went on to be included on the LNW-80 by LNW Computers.

Jonathan attended Biola University from 1984 to 1988, where he met his college roommate and life-long friend Rob Evans. As a young man, Jonathan also spent time living with his aunts in what was affectionately called the “Sorority House”. He had an especially meaningful relationship with his Aunt Dorothy, who gifted him his first telescope and catalyzed his love for astronomy.

While he focused a lot of time on computers, Jonathan’s early programming success also helped fund a number of other hobbies. He took ice skating lessons, and thought about going pro. He loved piano and was really into the tech crossover of keyboard and MIDI. He loved cars, and met his wife when she offered to wash his car in exchange for a date. He’d go out on runs and go rock climbing with friends, and liked exploring caves and abandoned mines. He also earned a pilot’s license in 1986 at the age of 20, inspired by his grandfather Ted Hurlbut, who had flown a Ryan B-5 for Baker Oil Tools. As if all that wasn’t enough adventure, he also spent the early 90s serving as a volunteer reserve officer in the LAPD and bomb squad.

On May 2nd, 1992, he married the love of his life, Karen Anne Fay in Whittier, CA. They had gotten engaged in Anacortes, WA where at the top of Mt Erie, Karen had said what a beautiful place Washington would be to raise kids. In 2025, Jonathan and Karen celebrated 33 years of marriage while living just a few miles from where they had gotten engaged and after having raised five children together in Washington state.

Jonathan loved to introduce his kids to the hobbies and passions that had carried him through life. When they lived closer to Seattle, he loved taking them to visit the Museum of Flight to explore and take photos in all the planes. Before he had to sell it, he’d also take them out on his boat, The Joyful, and put a camera in a crab pot so they could watch them crawling around. Most summers, the family would attend Table Mountain Star Party, one of his favorite gatherings, where they’d stay up late stargazing, doing astrophotography, and quoting movies.

In service of his passion for astronomy, Jonathan built his own home observatory starting in late 2002 with the help of his kids Jamie and Cameron, who were 5 and 3 years old at the time. The resulting Bear Creek Observatory was a source of joy and exploration for his family, and he loved inviting the broader community over for mini star parties.

Some of Jonathan’s best working years were also spent focused on astronomy. He led software development on Worldwide Telescope (WWT), working alongside Curtis Wong, Alex Szalay, and Alyssa A Goodman to revolutionize astronomy visualization, research, outreach & education. The software they created allowed for all the known universe to be mapped out and explored in three spatial dimensions and throughout time. Beyond coding, Jonathan travelled around the world to build connections with organizations that could contribute data, demo the software, and help planetariums modernize. Even after Microsoft laid off his team and turned the project over to open source, Jonathan dedicated time for years to help keep the project going. His work on WWT earned him a spot in the ASCOM Hall of Fame and the project reached tens of millions of people.

In 2017, Jonathan decided he needed a new personal project. He ended up building a bush plane - the Zenith 750 “Big Tire” Cruzer - with the help of his family. He called the plane his time machine; once in the air he could be to Friday Harbor from his home airport in Anacortes in minutes to go get vegan pizza with his kid Cypress, or take his wife to beaches for day trips that would be impossible by car. He loved to land on gravel bars with friends like Ajai Sehgal and fellow Zenith pilot John Marzulli. Aviation was a huge source of community for Jonathan. He was a member of EAA Chapter 84 and volunteered giving kids Young Eagle flights. In September 2024, he finally flew the 16 hours to Mexico, Missouri for the Zenith Homecoming fly-in, a dream he’d had since starting building his Zenith in 2017. Just two months before his death, he had flown out to Oshkosh Airventure and met with Dynon Avionics to pitch a future partnership for once he got his newest dream off the ground - a digital flight bag and simulator. He had planned to be there boothing beside them the following year.

When he died, Jonathan had recently celebrated 32 years at Microsoft – his 2^5 anniversary, as he called it.

He was eager to retire so he could spend more time with friends and family. He wanted to get to go flying more with his wife Karen Fay, who was so close to getting her private pilot’s license. He wanted to get more time out on the water with his oldest Jamie to go looking for octopuses and other creatures with their shared little ROV. He wanted more time to spend helping prepare for his son Halden’s wedding coming up in December. He wanted football and movie nights with his brother Jim, and his child Cypress. He had just bought a little travel trailer to be able to go on road trips with his wife Karen to go visit more friends and start going to star parties again and indulge in his love of astronomy.

Jonathan is survived by his wife, Karen Anne Fay; his children, Jamie Andersen Fields, Cameron Kaon Fay, Halden James Fay, Cypress Glade Fay, and Medb Final Fay; his brothers, Ted Fay and James O’Niel; his sister Sylvia Paulsen; his grand-kitties Hagrid and George; and many dear friends and extended family.

Jonathan is preceded in death by his twin sons, Albert and Joseph, born into heaven; by his parents, Marjorie and Nelson; by his father’s wife, Patricia, who was another grandmother to his children; and by his friend and mentor Jim Gray.

A memorial is yet to be scheduled, but you can sign up to be notified when it is at https://everloved.com/life-of…

Jonathan will be laid to rest at Fernhill Cemetery beside his sons, Albert and Joseph, and his father Nelson. 

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