Jacob “Jack” Brain died in Wellington, Florida, on October 28, 2011. He was 98.
Jack began his post-education career as a minor league baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. However, his love of flying surpassed his other interests for many years.
Jack developed, owned, and operated the Totowa-Wayne Airport in New Jersey from 1946 to 1968. He was a Cessna dealer at the airport where he constructed the first airport showroom for Cessna airplanes.
His career as FAA flight examiner and accident investigator began at the Teterboro, N.J., airport in the early 1970s. He operated a flight school at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport where he was the first to use a flight simulator in a private aviation classroom setting.
Jack also operated a flight school at the Palm Beach International Airport in the late 1970s to 1980s.
He was a charter member of the nationwide Quiet Birdmen pilot association and was a member of the Palm Beach hangar.
In the early 1970s, Jack developed Dey Hill Farms Estates in Totowa, N. J., and in the early 1980s developed Lagoon Estates in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. He also built homes in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Jack was a member of the Civil Air Patrol and became a civic leader in Patterson, N.J., serving in several city government positions, the last of which was as Fire and Police Commissioner from the late 1960s until the early 1970s.
After several years of flying between New Jersey, the Vineyard, and Florida, Jack retired to Florida where he spent the last years in retirement.
Jack leaves behind his wife, Carol, his daughter, Jessica of Old Town, Maine, his four grandchildren — Colleen, Eleanor, Jacob, and Aiden — his step-daughters Lyn and Beth and a step-grandson, Jared.
