Obituaries

Ernest Leroy Burdge Jr.Defense Intelligence Analyst

Ernest Leroy Burdge Jr., 90, an Air Force pilot and Defense Department intelligence analyst, died of complications of prostate cancer Aug. 31 at Howard County General Hospital. He lived in Columbia.

Mr. Burdge, a native of Minneapolis, served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, flying 30 missions in a B-17 bomber and 40 missions in a P-51 fighter in 1944 alone. He received three Distinguished Flying Crosses for his wartime service and participated in the Berlin Airlift after the war.

He remained in the Air Force until 1963, serving in England, France, Germany and Libya and at numerous posts in the United States. He retired in 1963.

Mr. Burdge moved to Laurel and worked as an intelligence analyst for the Defense Department until 1980, when he retired again. He moved to Columbia in 2002.

He was a member of the Gunpowder Golf Club and the Elks Club.

His wife of 53 years, Mary Jane Hasler Burdge, died in 1998.

Survivors include four children, Geoffrey Burdge of Merritt Island, Fla., Ernest Burdge of Churchville, Pa., Stephanie Diamond of Redding, Calif., and Melissa Garbowitz of Encino, Calif.; a sister; and four grandchildren.

John I. Connolly Jr.Physicist

John I. Connolly Jr., 70, a Burke physicist, died Aug. 29 at Woodbine Rehabilitation Center in Alexandria of complications of pneumonia, after brain surgery in February.

Mr. Connolly worked for 18 years for SAIC in Northern Virginia, starting with its high-energy laser program. He left in 1991 to operate his consulting firm, JDI Ltd.

He was born in Brighton, Mass., and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a doctoral degree in physics from the University of Illinois in 1965. He was a Fulbright scholar in Madrid later that year and maintained a lifelong interest in the lands and languages of Spain and Italy.

Survivors include his wife, Diane Connolly, and a son, John I. Connolly III, both of Burke; a sister; two brothers; and a grandson.

Jonathan Walkley CummingsVA Psychologist

Jonathan Walkley Cummings, 80, a clinical psychologist and former chief of psychology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, died of cancer Sept. 21 at his home in Bethesda.