John “Jack” Andrew Spahn was born Jan. 28, 1952, in Jersey City. He was the third of eight children in a large, close-knit family, raised in Tinton Falls. As a child, he loved to wander and explore, so much so that his family had to keep the screen door locked or young Jack would be out touring the neighborhood alone. His siblings described him as “fearless, adventurous and out the door almost before he could walk.” He would often be found making “cockpits” out of cardboard boxes. He loved airplanes.
Jack was an industrious person and prided himself on his ability to work for a living since the age of 14. His first job as a paper boy didn’t pan out, as he tended to chat for so long with the customers he would forget to leave the paper. He moved on to bagging groceries and picking apples at Delicious Orchards. He proudly had “uninterrupted contributions to social security since 1966.”
Fulfilling his urge to wander, he left home as a young man and learned to drive a tractor-trailer. From 1974 to 1979, he drove an 18-wheeler truck on a “New York to Los Angeles turnaround” for Global Van Lines. During that time, he took flying lessons at various hangars around the country and began pursuing a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.
After initially working as a flight instructor, he took a job flying night freight (or “night fright,” as he called it) for Colhmia Aviation in Dallas, Texas, in 1980. Jack had many harrowing stories of flying in extreme weather on aircraft that did not have radar, autopilot, DME or RNAV. During his time there, he fine-tuned his skills as an aviator and worked his way up to chief pilot and check airman.
From 1983 to 1990, he worked as a LearJet and Gulfstream captain with several organizations, including Willits International Corporation, Jet Aviation Business Jets and Citicorp, where he began flying internationally. He took it upon himself to earn his Airframe and Powerplant mechanic’s license “to become more valuable to the company,” he said.
In 1984 he met Ellen Delehanty at his good friend Terry Daverio’s restaurant, the Lincroft Inn. Ellen worked in the coat check and her sister Kate was a bartender there. Kate thought they’d be a good match and encouraged him to introduce himself. A whirlwind romance ensued. Jack moved back to New Jersey and they married shortly thereafter.
In 1990. he took a job as a Gulfstream captain with Schering-Plough (later merged with Merck Pharmaceuticals) where he stayed for 30 years, rounding out a highly accomplished career as an international aviator, maintenance test pilot and mechanic.
To top it off, in 1994, Jack and Ellen co-founded Wingtip, Inc. Aviation Consulting where they brokered aircraft transactions and started at least 14 flight departments around the country. They ran the business together for nearly 30 years.
Jack and Ellen’s 40-year marriage exemplified the vows they took: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death parted them. They committed their lives to each other and their three children, Andrea, Brianna and Max; and later on, to their grandchildren, Maeve, Joni and Samuel. Ellen cared for Jack through every step of his nine-year-long illness. He passed away peacefully with his family at his side Nov. 18, 2024, at the age of 72.
Jack will be remembered not only for his prolific career but as a committed father and husband, adored brother and uncle, a loving Popop, and a generous man. He was a talented musician, an armchair philosopher, a world traveler, a “machine whisperer.” He was a big man with a big laugh and a bigger appetite, a lover of good food, funky music, offbeat movies and sharp political discourse. He will be dearly missed.
Jack was a long-time supporter of Doctors Without Borders; contributions may be made in his honor at donate.doctorswithoutborders.org.
The article originally appeared in the November 29 – December 4, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
