JAMES FRANCIS LENNON, 81, of Pittsfield, died Friday, January 30, at Berkshire Medical Center.

Born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1927, a son of Michael and Mary Cullen Lennon, he was educated by the Xavierian Brothers at Mission High School in Roxbury, graduating in 1945. He entered Boston College immediately and was drafted into the United States Army during World War II the same year as a Second Lieutenant. He returned to Boston College, graduating in 1950. He was recalled during the Korean War and was discharged as a United States Army Infantry Officer in 1953.

Mr. Lennon worked as an engineer at Pratt & Whitney, participating in the nuclear aircraft engine project. In 1960, he joined General Electric, working in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in the Missile and Space Division, where he participated in several projects, including the Nimbus weather satellite. He returned to Lynn in 1964 to work as a project engineer in fuel cell development where he received a patent award for a methanol/air fuel cell.

In 1968, he was transferred to Pittsfield to work in the design and manufacture of large power transformers. Until the plant closed in 1988, he worked as a chemical engineer in various phases of the manufacturing and processing components and assembly and test of transformers. After retiring from General Electric, he worked for three years as a project engineer for a local engineering company before starting his own consulting business Vacutherm, Inc.

In 1965, he married Caryl Doherty of Milford, Massachusetts. They moved to Pittsfield from West Roxbury in 1968.

Mr. Lennon was a daily communicant of Sacred Heart Church and a volunteer at St. Joseph's Kitchen and the Veterans Administration. He also volunteered at Tanglewood for over twenty-five years. He was a member of the Sacred Heart Choir and traveled with the Berkshire Choral Festival for two years. He loved golf, skiing, and traveling.

He is survived by his wife, Caryl Doherty Lennon, formerly of Milford; his daughter and husband; two granddaughters; two brothers; a sister; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his sisters, Winifred Lennon Lloyd, Alice Lennon Hurley, and Mary Lennon Healey, and his brothers, John and Joseph Lennon.

Funeral services were held Saturday, February 7, at DERY FUNERAL HOME, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church, concelebrated by Rev. James K. Joyce, Pastor, and Rev. Robert Lennon, CSsR, brother of Mr. Lennon.

Burial was private in St. Mary's Cemetery in Milford.

Dery Funeral Home, 54 Bradford Street, Pittsfield, Mass.