Joseph Reed Canavin '63

Joseph Reed Canavin was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1945. He attended Holy Redeemer Parochial School and graduated from Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in 1963. He was active in student activities at Good Counsel and was selected as President of the Debate Club in his senior year. He chose Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, OH now Case Western Reserve University, to earn an engineering degree. During the summers of college, he worked in Los Angeles and, upon graduation, moved there. He worked for TRW, Hughes Aircraft, and Grumman Aircraft.

He attended UCLA and completed a Master’s and Doctoral Degree. His Doctor’s thesis was in Celestial Mechanics. His work included controlling vibrations in new, large satellite structures. He married Madonna Murphy in 1969, and they had three children, Shannon, Peter, and Erin. In 1977, he moved his family to Andover, MA, and took a job with Draper Lab, on the campus of MIT. Just beginning his career, he tragically dies at the age of 33 in 1978 in the PSA aircraft accident in San Diego, California.

Joe will be remembered for his passion for space and his love of Star Wars and is truly missed by his family.

Scholarship:

The Joseph Reed Canavin ’63 Memorial Endowed Scholarship was established by Denny ’66 and Mary (Canavin) Roderick to honor their beloved brother and friend, Joseph Reed Canavin ’63. This merit-based scholarship supports a rising Good Counsel senior with superior achievement and innovation in the STEM curriculum and active participation in extracurricular activities that includes debate, the newspaper, sports, or drama.

Donate to the Joseph Reed Canavin ’63 Memorial Endowed Scholarship