1972

Jefferson Davis Montgomery Jr. MBA ’72 was born on June 23, 1928, in Frenchtown, Arkansas, to Clarcie Opal Williams Montgomery and Jefferson Davis Montgomery. Jeff graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology and SCU. A global traveler, he was active in his community as a member of the Congregational Church of Belmont, the Democratic Party, and the Lions Club. He loved to read and relax with his family at Mazatlán and Blue Lake. After serving in the Navy, specializing in radio-based communications equipment, he joined Andrew Corporation in Illinois and later moved his family to Southern California, serving as president of their California operations. While living in Montclair, California, he was active in local government, serving on the city council. In 1963, he joined the company Eimac, a leading electronics manufacturer, which was later acquired by Varian Associates, and moved his family to Belmont in Northern California. In Belmont, he was active in local government, serving on the city planning commission. In the 1970s, he worked at Quantum Science Corporation before he co-founded Gnostic Concepts, a market and technology forecast consultancy and publisher, specializing in the electronics and communication industries. Eventually, McGraw-Hill, a leading educational publication company, acquired Gnostic Concepts. Soon after, Jeff started his own consultancy, named Montgomery Venture Views, as well as FutureCast, publishing market and technology reports specializing in the electronics and communication industries. In 1976 he published the industry’s first market forecast on the use of fiber optics in communications. In 1981, he founded ElectroniCast, which remains a leading consultancy and specializes in forecasting trends in technology, markets, and applications forecasting as well as strategic planning, addressing several electronics and photonics industry segments. Jeff authored hundreds and hundreds of market assessment and forecast reports over the years for leading industrial companies, trade associations, government agencies, communications and manufacturing companies, and the investment community worldwide. Around the year 2000, he authored several extensive essays covering the technological trends and advances of the use of fiber-optic communications for the years 2000–2050, which appeared in books, magazines, and journals. In one essay, he stated that fiber-optic technology and related markets will continue to provide growth for the next 50 years and beyond. On Nov. 27, 2019, he died of natural causes. Jeff was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Lois Evelyn Montgomery. He is survived by his sons, Samuel and Jeffrey Stephen, and daughters Theresa Hosking, Valerie Ginsberg, and Susan Garcia, and was blessed with 15 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

28 Jan 2020