Joseph "Skip" Edward Ryan
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Joseph's obituary
Joseph Edward Ryan
9/29/1937-6/17/2025
Joseph Edward Ryan, devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, skier, sailor, and master storyteller, passed away peacefully on June 17, 2025 at age 87, surrounded by his family. Joe was an Army veteran and an aerospace leader with a long, distinguished career at NASA.
Joe was born in 1937 in Manhattan, New York, the son of Christine Moran and Joseph Ryan. He was the third of four children—older siblings William and Mary, and his younger brother Kevin. When he was six, the family moved to City Island, where Joe learned to shuck oysters and love the water. Times were hard for his family, and from a young age Joe shouldered responsibility far beyond his years. As a teenager, he became superintendent of the apartment building where they lived, helping to provide for his parents and siblings. He often recalled, with a glint of mischief, how he used his library card as an ID to buy drinks at the local bar at age 14, only to see his younger brother sitting farther down the bar.
With encouragement from a teacher, Joe applied and was admitted to the Bronx High School of Science, but he missed his friends on City Island; he rejoined them at Christopher Columbus High School, graduated at 16, and went straight to work. He worked at restaurants across City Island, including the Reef and Ryan's. At 17, he began an apprenticeship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He once fell several stories and couldn’t remember on the way down if they were still in drydock. When he quit, he did so for good, tossing his tools into the river when a co-worker said he’d be back. At 18, he joined the U.S. Army, and joked ever after that his mother had signed him up for summer camp.
In the army, Joe was selected for specialized training in missiles and telemetry. He served for three years during peacetime—just missing the Korean War—and was primarily stationed in New Mexico at White Sands Missile Range, testing guided missile systems. He liked to say that basic training was a breeze compared to the backpacking trips of his Boy Scout troop led by an ex-Marine.
After his honorable discharge in 1959, Joe returned to City Island, where he met the love of his life, Jeane Payne, just as she finished high school. The two married and settled in New Jersey, welcoming three children: Kelly, Susan, and Andrew. Joe attended the RCA Institute and joined RCA as an electronics technician, where he helped assemble, test, and launch pioneering telecommunications satellites, including the Relay spacecraft—work that earned national attention with a segment by Walter Cronkite.
Joe’s talent and leadership led him to NASA in the mid-1960s, when he joined the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. At the time, he and Jeane had just moved to Maryland with their young family, settling first at Dodge Park Apartments, later moving to New Jersey. In 1969, he was presented with a plaque for his contribution to Apollo XI, the lunar landing mission. Among other assignments, Joe served in those early years as NASA’s on-site representative at RCA Astro in Hightstown, New Jersey, during the pioneering years of the TIROS weather satellite program. He joined the project at TIROS 4 and stayed through the launches of ITOS and TIROS M in 1978, helping to advance early weather forecasting from space.
In 1975, the family moved to Arnold, Maryland, settling in Bayberry-on-the-Magothy, and Joe moved on to the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and the Dynamics Explorer missions 1 and 2, contributing to breakthroughs in understanding Earth’s magnetosphere and the upper atmosphere. Throughout these years, Joe was known as the “eyes and ears” of Goddard—respected for being both the on-site conscience and the trusted link between NASA and its contractors.
But the true centerpiece of Joe’s NASA career was the Hubble Space Telescope. He led a team that integrated Hubble’s scientific instruments and operating systems at Goddard in Greenbelt Maryland and at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California, where the family relocated in 1985—originally for one year, extended to three due to the Challenger disaster. Joe remained dedicated to Hubble through its launch, the famous repair of its flawed mirror, and every servicing mission that followed. He was known for his fierce commitment to excellence and fiscal stewardship, proud to save the government money without compromising the science.
In 1991, Joe’s remarkable work earned him the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, awarded for “significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability.” In 1993, he received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, recognizing his outstanding management of complex missions and his mentorship of young engineers.
During his time at Goddard, Joe and Jeane designed and built a family home on the shore of Scheide’s Cove in Arnold, Maryland. Joe relished taking his kids out on the Magothy River in his Boston Whaler to fish for bluefish or crabs and spent winters pulling his children on sleds behind the family car, walking on the frozen river, or leading ski trips to Vermont and Canada.
During the family’s time in California, Joe fell in love with skiing in the Sierras and vowed to retire to Lake Tahoe one day. After retiring from NASA in 1992, Joe continued to consult in the aerospace field while living his mountain dream. Joe and Jeane moved to Incline Pines in Lake Tahoe. There, with Diamond Peak just minutes away, he could ski to his heart’s content. His favorite mornings were spent in the hot tub on the deck, coffee in hand, gazing through the pines at the clear blue lake.
Joe’s greatest pride was his family—but “family,” to Joe, was always a generously expansive concept. He was devoted to his brothers and sister and their families, to Jeane's family, to cousins, and to the many friends he called family. He had a tough exterior sometimes but beneath that was a loyal heart that made room for many. Friends became family to Joe, whether they were NASA colleagues, Bayberry, Willingboro, and Tahoe neighbors, or friends he sailed with on the Chesapeake and beyond, traveled the world with, or skied with at Lake Tahoe. He and Jeane kept up connections with people all over the country and the world. If you were in Joe’s orbit, you stayed there. He is survived by Jeane, his devoted wife of 62 years; their three children Kelly, Susan, and Andrew; and his seven grandchildren: Amelia and Eliot (Kelly); Wren and Kip (Andrew); Evan, Clem, Nic plus three bonus grandchildren Sasha, Yael and Axia (Susan). We wanted to name every honorary family member, but then this obituary would be the length of a phone book—and even then, we’d probably miss someone.
Joe Ryan looked up at the stars—and helped bring them closer to all of us. His legacy lives on, not only in the skies above but in the stories, laughter, and love of those who knew him best.
A service to honor Joe’s extraordinary life will be held on August 31st at Chabot Space and Science Center. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to a science or environmental organization of your choosing.
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