Obituaries

Born in Port Chester, N.Y., he joined the Air Force and was stationed in Alaska and at Andrews Air Force Base. He graduated from Montgomery College and the University of Maryland in the 1950s, and received a master's degree in geography from Maryland in 1965.

Mr. Geer was an assistant director of summer school and a geography instructor at Georgetown University until he joined the Peace Corps as a project director in 1963. A year later, he became a faculty member at East Carolina University in Fort Bragg, N.C..

After receiving his master's degree, he moved to Milwaukee where he worked in continuing education at Marquette University. He returned to the Washington area in 1970 to work for Montgomery College until 1983.

He volunteered at the Florence Crittentdon Services of Greater Washington and was a member of the Federal Schoolmen's Club and Toastmasters International.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Paulette Geer of Rockville; three children, Wayne Geer of Olney, Joyce Geer of Rockville and Joan Geer of Gaithersburg; two brothers; and three grandchildren.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Joseph G. Schaffner Jr.CIA Technology Analyst

Joseph G. Schaffner Jr., 58, a CIA technology analyst and manager for 30 years, died of acute myeloid leukemia May 31 at his home in Vienna.

Dr. Schaffner's work in the directorate of intelligence ranged from assessing foreign electronics and information technology to identifying emerging technologies that would enhance U.S. national reconnaissance. Those technologies included semiconductors, electro-optics, high-performance computers, quantum computing, fiber-optic lasers and mobile or satellite communications. He was on loan to the National Reconnaissance Office when he retired in 2006.

Dr. Schaffner then became a corporate senior scientist at Areté Associates, a defense contractor in Arlington.

He was born in Baltimore and graduated from Loyola College. He received a doctorate in theoretical elementary particle physics from the University of Virginia in 1975. He also did postgraduate work at Virginia in biophysics.

He worked for Computer Sciences Corp. at Goddard Space Flight Center before he joined the CIA in 1977.

Dr. Schaffner was runner-up to the CIA's Scientist of the Year award in 1987 and received its Career Commendation Medal and the NRO's Meritorious Service Medal.

He coached and officiated youth sports in the Vienna Little League, CYO basketball and the Northern Virginia Swimming League, as well as WCAC and Potomac Valley Swimming. He was a Eucharistic minister of St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean and enjoyed auto repairs, sports cars and yard work. He was also a fan of the author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Dr. Anne Ebmeier Schaffner of Vienna; two children, Rachael Anne Schaffner of Boston and Joseph Michael Schaffner of Vienna.

-- Patricia Sullivan