Obituary of John William Kent
SELKIRK –
John William Kent died peacefully at home on August 20, 2024, following a long illness. He was born in Portland, ME on November 19, 1959, the son of Stanley Webber Kent and Constance Barker Kent. John grew up in Falmouth, Maine where he attended local schools, as well as Governor Dummer Academy, where he graduated high school in 1977. He graduated with a B.S. in meteorology from Lyndon State College in VT in 1981.
John started his career at FleetWeather in NY in 1984. In 2000, he joined the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in the Bureau of Air Quality Planning. He performed air quality monitoring studies and participated in other meteorology. In 2016, John was promoted to the Chief of the Impact Assessment and Meteorology Section, serving in that role until his retirement in 2022.
John was a lifelong, infectiously enthusiastic birder, active in the Capital Region birding community as well as travelling worldwide with birding as a central theme. John was on the Board of Directors of the New York State Ornithological Association and the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club. For the Bird Club he led many field trips, gave workshops about birds, weather, and Cornell’s eBird. He contributed extensively to the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas and Christmas Bird Counts.
John was an ardent audiophile, a “Deadhead” (Grateful Dead fan) and jazz lover, among many other artists and genres. He attended many concerts. He was an amateur radio operator for 35 years, using the call signs AA2DY and K2ENT. He was well known for his Morse code proficiency, and made contact with over 250 countries. John was also a foodie, sampling widely among cuisines and cooking many himself.
John was predeceased by his parents, Stanley and Constance; as well as by his sister, Susan Winslow. He is survived by his brother, Thomas and his wife Susan, and their family, Christopher and Heather and their children; and by Susan’s family, husband Raimond Winslow and children Benjamin and Rebecca.
Contributions on John's behalf may be made to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy; Friends of Five Rivers; or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
There are no visiting hours scheduled. A remembrance will be held at a later date.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the Kent Family, online at: SimpleChoicesCremation.com
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