John Leonard Olson

He was preceded in death by his father John Olson, his mother Helen, and his son Eric. He is survived by his wife Moffatt, daughter Meri Katherine, his brother Franklin, sister-in-law Gail, nephews Mark and Chris Olson, and numerous cousins.

John was born in Houston on January 26, 1951, to John and Helen Olson. He deeply loved his parents, and they were a huge influence in his life. John was married to the love of his life Moffatt Olson for 54 years. They were both born in Hermann Hospital 3 days apart and met while students at Lamar high school. John and Moffatt married at the age of 19 and had 2 children, Eric and Meri Katherine. He loved his family dearly and had a passion for electronics, computers, math, and science from an early age. His daughter used to love watching her dad operate his ham radio and talk to other hams. They loved watching Star Trek together and went to see Star Wars on the big screen. He was a wonderful father who enjoyed spending time with his daughter.

John was an exceptional student who studied engineering and science at the University of Houston, he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. In his late twenties he was led to the Lord by his cousin Bing Rogers. He was a member of Second Baptist Church and absolutely loved serving in the media department, working in the sound booth and editing sermons so they could be broadcasted on television. If something broke, John knew how to fix it, anything from large cameras used to film services, down to the equipment used to play tape reels. In addition to using his talents in the media department, John also served as a deacon at Second Baptist.

He worked many years in the family real estate business building and managing retail properties in the Village shopping center near Rice University. John had many tenants who became close friends, they loved his sense of humor and easy-going personality. He later worked for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) as a project manager and traffic engineer at METRO Police Department. He continued his career as an engineer working for Gunda Corporation and later for Ardurra Group Engineering, he was a mentor to many of his colleagues.

But John’s greatest project was creating the genetic genealogy website GEDmatch. He used his strong love of science and DNA in the development of the site. GEDmatch has helped countless individuals research their family trees, has helped adopted children find their birth parents, and much to John’s surprise, has been used by law enforcement to help solve cold cases, putting violent criminals behind bars and bringing closure to many families. John was an incredibly talented, innovative, humble and kind man, who worked hard and always put his family first, he changed the world for the better and will be greatly missed by us all.