John N. Pike, 85, of Pleasantville, NY, died March 22, 2014. John was born Feb. 13, 1929, in Boston to Arthur T. and Sarah N. Pike but raised in Ridgefield Park and Upper Montclair, New Jersey. His high school years were at the then College H.S. at Montclair State Teachers College, where in his senior year he became one of the 40 nationwide finalists in the 6th Westinghouse Science Talent Search, shaking hands with President Truman.
At Princeton he majored in physics, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and going on to earn a Ph.D. in Physics and Optics at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester (NY, 1958). While still writing his thesis, he joined the National Carbon division of Union Carbide at Parma, OH, where, in a Cleveland area World Politics discussion group, he met and within the year married the love of his life, Margaretta Horner. They were soon transferred (1963) to Carbide’s new corporate research center in Elmsford, NY, from which John retired as a senior scientist in 1985. He thereupon formed J.J. Pike & Co., Inc., (descended from his great-grandfather’s proprietorship, the formulator of Pike’s Centennial Salve in 1876 and of what was known in recent years as Fels Naptha soap), and for 20 years consulted, published and patented optical instrument developments for a variety of clients, most feeding into the growth of industrial automation. His professional biographies first appeared in American Men and Women of Science in 1963, then in the International Who’s Who of Optical Science and Engineering in 1985, and his full biography in Who’s Who in America since the late 1980s.
John and Marg were both very active volunteers over the past half century with several Westchester agencies: fund-raising, chairing or on the boards of the United Way of Westchester and Putnam, the Chappaqua Orchestra, the Mental Health Association of Westchester and most recently the Volunteers Association for Bangladesh, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in Bangladesh through education. They both also loved to travel to natural areas: Sanibel Island and the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the Everqlades, Jackson Lake in the Tetons, Malheur in Oregon's Great Basin and the Canadian Rockies were among their favorites. The wide circle of life-long friends from these activities are sincerely thanked by John’s family for the out¬pouring of affection shown him during his final illness.
Marg predeceased John, peacefully, in their home in Pleasantville, NY, on Oct. 7, 2009. They are survived by their two beloved daughters Sally K. Pike (of Pawling, NY) and her two boys, Chester and Arthur D'Agostino and Susan H. Pike (of Rollinsford, NH) and her two boys Hunter Gagnon and Sam Pike; by sister-in-law, Mary F Horner (of NYC); and a great-granddaughter Janis Theresa (daughter of Chester D’Agostino).

The Memorial Service/Visiting hours will take place between 4 and 6 pm, April 26th, at the Beecher Flooks Funeral Home.

Interment of John’s ashes and placement of a memorial stone will take place privately at the Pike family's l5O-year-old burial plots in Oak Grove Cemetery (Fall River, MA) at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made in John’s memory to the United Way of Westchester and Putnam, or to the Volunteers Association for Bangladesh.