Terry Michael Flanagan

Terry Michael Flanagan, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 10, 2018.

Born in Iowa, Terry moved to California before he was one year old, beginning a life long love of all things Californian. He attended Saint Paul the Apostle, Pomona Catholic, entered the seminary when he was 15, graduating from Saint Francis in La Cañada Flintridge.

Terry’s summer jobs were at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena. He earned a full scholarship to Santa Clara University, to be forever influenced by the Jesuit priests who valued his intellect and nurtured his love of learning.

Terry “moved east” to Indiana for his graduate school, receiving his master’s and PhD in physics from the University of Purdue. Returning to California at his first opportunity, he began his career in space engineering during the hay day of Star Wars and other defense systems in the Cold War.

His early career successes included “hardening” equipment against space radiation for satellites, which led to his groundbreaking work in the 1980s for a new and revolutionary system called “GPS.” Preparing briefings for Congressional funding of GPS, he was asked to explain who in the world would ever buy GPS for personal use.

Enter the digital revolution: Terry Michael Flanagan found himself in a new and exciting world of computers, circuit boards and networking for commercial enterprise. He was the founding CEO of Jaycor Networks Inc. (JNIC), which went public in 1999.

In 1980, at a dinner party arranged by friends, he met the love of his life, Fran, and spent the next 38 years sharing his life with her and their three daughters, their families and two beloved schnauzers.

Together, Fran and Terry traveled all over the world, often in search of an opera or a play or a Mozart or Vivaldi concert in a church somewhere. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music, jazz, opera, musical theater and the Great American Song Book, but he couldn’t play or sing a note. He was a professional appreciator of those who could.

Terry also loved the outdoors, especially Mammoth Mountain and the Pacific Ocean. He was an avid skier, back packer and diver. Golfing became his post retirement pleasure/torture. He loved his Bel Air Country Club.

Terry supported Center Theatre Group because he loved a good play. He was a founder at the Music Center and supporter of LA Opera. Not one penny of his philanthropic effort left Los Angeles. He was also a Dodger fan.

He was patient, solid, reliable, even-tempered and kind. He sought quality in everything and everyone he touched. His beef bourguignon was a thing of legends. Nobody loved a good wine more than Terry. Punning and corny jokes called “groaners” were his specialty.   

He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Fran Flanagan; his daughter, Erin Flanagan Gatlin, and her husband, Mark Gatlin, who live in Denver, Colorado, and their children, Dylan Flanagan Gatlin, a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder, majoring in astrophysics, Carolyn Rose Gatlin, a freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle, majoring in business. Their daughters, Frances Tolar Casparis (Tolley), and Liz Jones and her husband Billy Jones, who live in the Palisades with their daughters, Charlotte Murrah Jones, a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School, and Greogia Frances Jones, a seventh-grader at Saint Matthew’s School. His brother Brian Flanagan, who resides in San Diego, and the entire Romano, Burlinson and Handley families.

A memorial service will be held at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club on Sunday, November 18, at 12 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in honor of the ICU nurses and in memory of Terry Michael Flanagan to Saint John’s Hospital Foundation, located at 2221 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, California 90404.