John and I worked together in IBM on a number of occasions. I live in Melbourne Australia and we built a great friendship literally over long distance. John was always that super-knowledgable and curious engineer/developer who somehow could diagnose or debug an issue even when he had little or no prior knowledge of the technology. We collaborated together on a number of mini projects and troubleshooted many customer problems together, and it was fun. He maintained a witty and cheeky demeanour, always ready with a quip, and I gave him no quarter, and I think he appreciated that. He wanted to come to Australia and visit, and I promised to take him around the country. It would have been great.
John, I will always remember you with fondness and deep awe and respect for the amazing things that you have done and how your work directly impacted positively, so many lives.
I am sorry I only learnt of John's passing just now. I would have travelled to Tuscon, to see him in person again and say goodbye, had I known.
-an eternal friend,
Naren


I am very sorry for your loss. I knew John through his work with IBM's people with diverse abilities Business Resource Group, which provided support for our disabled employees in the Tucson area. 
He will be missed.  

I feel awful for just hearing about this.  John was such a dear friend.  He visited my classes at the UA every year.  Rest in peace, John.  You will always be in my heart, and when I get my Ph.D., I will dedicate it to you.  You always believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.

My condolences to all who loved and enjoyed the friendship of John Olson. I also collaborated with John on the University of Arizona Project Access. I remember not only his excellent contributions to the project, inspiring others to seek a career in the sciences, but also meeting with architecture studios to help them learn about the different accessibility needs of individuals. John always impressed me with his willingness to try new things and how he lived life fully. I remember when he was waiting with excitement for his first service dog, his adventures traveling, the excitement of  graduation and being hired at IBM, his very excellent friends, and his long-time support of the Wildcats! We're all better for having John in our lives! May his memory always bless you. 

Sincerely, 

Georgia Ehlers

I'm so very, very sorry to learn of John's passing, but thankful for the many blessed memories he has shared with us.  My prayers for his family and friends.

John Olson was a close friend and a colleague.  I met John for the first time at the University of Arizona (UofA) back in 1996 when we were both graduate students.  We used to cruise across the Campus.  We used to hang out at places to eat together.  One day when McDonald's had a two for one fries special, we couldn't resist not eating fries together for almost an hour.  We became colleagues when we both started working on Program ACCESS at the UofA.  I have learned a lot from John, and I have so many fond memories with him.  After graduation, I moved to California and eventually to Florida.  Email was our occasional line of communication. John overcame life challenges by using his amazing brain power, his optimistic attitude, his stamina, and his persistency, to say the least.  John was an amazing man and he has a very special place in my heart.  Rest in peace my friend!

Dear John, you were such a special friend.  I am going to miss your great sense of humor and attitude we enjoyed all those years.  Hug's, RIP John, 😇 love, Marise W.  🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

My condolences to family and loved ones. 

My condolences to the Olson Family.  John's IBM family is really going to miss him and all his humor.  I am truly blessed to have worked with such a talented and brilliant man. Thank you John for sharing your intelligence, humor, leadership, kindness, and yourself with all of us.  And thank you Judy & Dawn for making yourselves available to ensure John got to all our IBM team events!  Thoughts and Prayers to the entire family.  Rest in Peace Friend.... 

My condolences to all. I loved working with John, with his positive attitude combined with his brilliance with the technology, he made an environment and team that I looked forward to coming to work for each day! He was a great teammate, a great leader, and a great friend. He will be missed.

John will be greatly missed by all of us at IBM.  He was a brilliant developer, IP whiz, and all around amazing person.  He always kept a sense of humor and brought much needed levity during stressful times when we were working towards deadlines and solving complex issues. I am honored to have gotten to work closely with him during our time together on the IBM Spectrum Scale team.    My condolences to Judy, Jim, Dawn, and Dawn; I hope you feel surrounded by much love. 

Judy, Jim, Dawn, and Dawn --     
My deepest sympathy on John's passing.  I worked with John at IBM; although I'm based in Poughkeepsie, we worked together on Spectrum Scale and and was on multiple phone calls with him.  John was a wonderful colleague, excellent programmer/engineer, and inspiration to so many on our team.  It was a pleasure to know him and work with him.  I attached a photo from a team dinner with the Tucson gang from when I was in Tucson in Feb, 2020.  John was in the back corner of the photo on the left, but he's hard to see in this picture unfortunately.  His IBM team appreciated and valued him so very much.  He will be missed.

Thoughts and prayers are with you all during this sad time.

With sympathy,
Amy Hirst & Family

Hi,. my name is Adriana Furnielis (Drip is my IBM nickname), and I work for IBM in Brazil.  I have never had the opportunity to met John in person, but we worked together in several projects since 2014 virtually. He was an amazing person, very smart and always willing to help, no matter the challenge. Clients here was happy when they knew John was engaged because they knew John would handle it with excellence. I want to express my sympathy and let his beloved ones that he had a friend down here in Brazil. I fell very sorry... he will be missed a lot.  I am sure, he is now in a better place, in peace. 

While a UA graduate student, John was a Principal Investigator on a multi-year, multi-million dollar National Science Foundation grant to encourage middle-school students with physical disabilities to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Attached is a photo of John surrounded by some of the 2001 participants and helpers in Camp Access. A great memory.

David Lovelock

OBITUARY

John Thomas Olson PhD

November 2, 1971 – February 12, 2022

East Lawn Palms Mortuary & Cemetery

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