FINDLAY, Ohio (Oct. 3, 2013) — John Luchini, a retired research scientist and engineer of 34 years with Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and known in the tire industry as an expert in the field of tire rolling resistance, died at his home in Findlay on Sept. 27 after a short illness.
Mr. Luchini, 64, started his career with Cooper in 1977 after earning his bachelor's, masters and doctorate degrees in engineering from the University of Michigan. He retired in 2011 as a senior research scientist and engineer.
There will be a memorial Mass in his honor at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Findlay. Calling hours are from 2 to 8 p.m. at Kirkpatrick-Behnke Funeral Home in Findlay.
Mr. Luchini, a physicist by training, was the author of a number of papers, articles, book chapters and other publications regarding tire technology, including a chapter in the "Rubber Technologists' Handbook," and was a charter member of the Tire Society, where he served for 34 years as journal editor and was its president for two years.
He held three patents together with colleagues at Cooper Tire and spoke several times at the Tire Society and International Tire Exhibition & Conference on rolling resistance.
He was a registered professional engineer in Ohio since 1978. Mr. Luchini was inducted in Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, as a student in 1969 and continued to serve the organization as a national volunteer for 44 years, serving as district director for all the college chapters in Michigan and Ohio.
Mr. Luchini was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and served for 35 years, chairing and serving on committees that developed government standards and regulations for the tire industry.
He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since 1978 and elected as a Fellow of the Society in 2010, an honor reserved for about 1 percent of the national membership. He was elected to membership in Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, in 1976.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Tamara (Wyckoff) Luchini, five children and eight grandchildren.
The family requests memorials in his name be made to Tau Beta Pi Association/Engineering Futures Fund in Knoxville, Tenn.; Bridge Home Health & Hospice in Findlay; or St. Wendelin High School Music and Drama Department in Fostoria, Ohio.