John O'Neill

John O'Neill

December 19, 1938 - September 02, 2023

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Obituary

Dr. John N. O'Neill, 84, of Belmont, Wisconsin, died on Saturday at his home surrounded by his family. John or as many people knew him as “Jack” was born on December 19, 1938 in Edgerton, Wisconsin, son of John and Generose (Palzkill) O'Neill. Jack was united in marriage to Maureen Golliher on June 20, 1959 at St. John's Catholic Church in Jefferson, Wisconsin.

He graduated from Milton Union High School and received his degree in Industrial Education from Wisconsin State University-Platteville in 1966. Jack obtained his Master's Degree in Audio Visual Communications from Stout State University in 1967 and in 1971 he received his Doctorate in Education from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO.

Jack was a home builder/carpenter early in his career and put those skills to use with Maureen later in life by building their iconic 16-sided house in the “Crossroads of the Nation”. He taught for 34 years at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and had an impact on thousands of students. He was instrumental in creating and building the communications program and helped design the university's Television and Radio Broadcasting facilities and major. He was UWP's Director of TV Services, advised students in the installation of cable television on campus and was integrally involved in the TV-5 Christmas Telethon benefiting Wisconsin Badger Camp.

Jack also had an entrepreneurial spirit and founded Agri-Sat in the 1980's which was the nation's first agricultural satellite television network as well as Niall Enterprises which installed cable television in Whitewater, Fitchburg and 8 communities in southwest Wisconsin. Later in the 1990's, Niall Enterprises obtained a grant from the government to develop an air traffic awareness display for pilots to see while flying.

Jack received the Educator of the Year award from The Society of Broadcast Engineers in 1992. In 2000, he received UWP Professor Emeritus status and later in 2013 was awarded the Outstanding Alumnus Award from UW-Platteville. He was a member of St. Philomena Catholic Church, Belmont, where he was a catechism teacher and served as Parish Council President. Jack was active in his community with the Belmont Lions Club, Belmont Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and Belmont Fair Stunt Committee.

Jack enjoyed fishing, hunting, researching family genealogy and Irish heritage, traveling with many friends during retirement and keeping up on his kids and grandchildren. He had an appreciation for country music, and was an avid fan of all Wisconsin sports teams, including the Pioneers and Braves. Go Pack!!

Jack is survived by his wife, Maureen; three children, John (Susan) O'Neill, Robert (Christina) O'Neill and Eileen (Devin LeMahieu) O'Neill; five grandchildren, John Paul, Maureen, Mackenzie, Generose and Quinn; sisters-in-law, Roberta Galbraith, Ann O'Neill Ault and Suzanne O'Neill and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, James and Lawrence and sister, Maribeth, and brother-in-law, Dwight Galbraith.

Mass of Christian burial will be at 11:00 AM, Friday, September 8, 2023 at St. Philomena Catholic Church, Belmont. Burial will be at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, Belmont. Visitation will be held from 4:00 – 6:00 PM Thursday, September 7, 2023 at the Melby Funeral Home & Crematory, Platteville, and will continue on Friday from 10:00 AM until the time of mass at the church. Online condolences can be made at www.melbyfh.com.

The family would like to THANK Peggy Steger and Sentinel Health Care - Laura, Angel and Kim - for their excellent care over the years as well as Dr. Raday and Lindsay Marklein from SSM Health and Dr. Klann at the Platteville Clinic for their care and understanding. 

 

 

 

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Paul Kkassy
Other •
I had Jack as an instructor back in the late 60's.. He changed my grade once that kept me off of probation. Thanks Jack! After that I did a tour during Vietnam, came back to Platteville, got a masters degree, taught HS Industrial Arts for 30 years and am now retired for 20. Where did the time go. Thanks again Jack for being a caring person! Paul Klassy
MV
Mari A Vice
Other •
Dear Maureen and Family, Please accept my deepest condolences at the loss of your husband, father, grandfather, and brother. May he rest in peace. His sense of humor is one thing I will remember about him. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Love, Mari Vice
CH
Chad Henneman
Other •
Jack was one of my 1st teachers at UWP. A few of the things he taught still stick with me, including that every decision is driven by money, hence him always drawing the $ on the board. The other was the best answer anyone could ever give, "It depends". Rest well, Prof O'Neill
DK
Dennis H King
Other •
I remember the first day Jack wrote his name on the board and crossed out "Dr." and "ONeill" and said call me "Jack". Then the cookout you all graciously held for us students at your "Four Corners of the Nation" house. Thank you. Jack was one of kind. He taught me the business side of broadcasting. The importance of networking and being known. He was also there 20+ years later when I back for an Alumni recognition. He came over with his smile and I recognized him immediately. He impacted so many people. I will never forget Jack!
TV
Tom Voigts
Other •
Sad news hearing about Jack but I have a couple of things to share. Sorry for the long post. Both are from his TV125 class which was the first TV class most students took. First was his explanation of interlace scanning of an NTSC television. The classroom had a brick wall and Jack used the analogy of a little man behind the wall with a flashlight lighting up every odd row of bricks. When he got to the bottom he quickly zigzagged back to the top to do the even rows. Even non-tech people got the idea. The second was learning how to design a simple CATV system. Cable loss, insertion loss, tap loss, slope, etc. I’m sure most people thought it was a waste of time. But for me it helped win a multi-million dollar contract for an NFL stadium. A major nationwide consultant bid 3 packages and you were required to bid all three to be eligible. Since the consultant didn’t provide enough information to be able to correctly bid the CATV system I took exception and received a call from the consultant. He said I would be disqualified if I didn’t submit a bid for the CATV system. Generally it’s the kiss of death to challenge a consultant but with what I had learned from Jack’s 125 class I explained the issue, told him I knew how to design CATV systems since being a freshman in college and it was easy with the correct information. He listened and ended the call. I assumed I was eliminated but the next day an extension was issued with a revised spec and I received a call from the consultant apologizing for the release of a bad spec. I ended up winning this bid and future ones resulting in 10’s of millions of dollars of business. All because of Jack and his TV125 class. Thank you Jack! You were a teacher, colleague, mentor and friend! RIP.
DM
Dave Meinhardt
Other •
I will be reserving the Basement of Pizzaria Uno on Thursday Sept 7 starting at 6:00 for Alumni and Friends to get together after Jack's Visitation. Jack was my teacher, my colleague, and friend. In 1988 Jack took some of us broadcasting students to Kansas City to cover the Annual FFA convection that we uplinked to his Agri-Sat TV network. It was an amazing experience. He taught the Legendary 125 TV Studio Class. I was fortunate enough to have been able to first teach that class when he was on sabbatical. Later, it was a mainstay of my classes, and I taught it another 33 semesters! Jack always followed his own drumbeat. I am a better person and better broadcaster for having had the privilege to have known him! $

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