Friends of the Canadian War Museum

Jon was born in Toronto on October 21, 1932. He received his primary and secondary education in Ontario. In 1950, Jon entered RMC (Kingston). He graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1954 and was granted the Van der Smissen-Ridout Award. After a year's service with UN peacekeeping Forces in Korea, Jon graduated from Queen's University. During the next 18 months he received six postings.

In January 1958, Jon joined the Operations Division of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories. In 1962, he was appointed an Assistant Scientific Adviser to the Atomic Energy Control Board. In 1978, Jon was appointed President and CEO of the AECB. He served in this capacity until his appointment in 1987 as Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Two primary challenges for the IAEA were cooperating with the UN Special Commission on Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War and dealing with the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea after the discovery by IAEA inspectors of a clandestine nuclear weapons program at Yongbyong in 1992.

In 1987, the Right Honourable Jeanne Sauvé appointed Jon an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1988, he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 1990, the Canadian Nuclear Association awarded Jon the Ian F. McRae Award for his contributions to nuclear engineering.