Jack Case, who began his Oak Ridge career as a toolmaker and rose through the ranks to become manager of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, died Tuesday morning at the Oak Ridge Health Care Center. He was 74.
Mr. Case was instrumental in establishing Y-12 as a site for manufacturing warhead parts in the post-World War II period when the Oak Ridge plant's future was uncertain.
He came to Y-12 in 1944, when the wartime plant was a uranium enrichment facility producing quantities of U-235 for the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. In 1969, Mr. Case became manager of Y-12 and served as the plant's chief officer until his retirement in 1982.
Mr. Case is survived by sons and daughter-in-law, Lawrence M. and Marilyn Case of Knoxville and Patrick T. Case of Clearwater, Fla.; daughter and son-in-law, Linda Case and Jim Fellers of Knoxville; sister, Winifred Karnosky of Savannah, Ga.; and four grandchildren, Stacey and Blake Case and Nathan and Michelle Henry.
Family will receive friends today from 7-8:30 p.m. at Weatherford Mortuary in Oak Ridge, followed by funeral services. Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.
Published in The Knoxville News-Sentinel, September 2, 1992
Family Members
Parents
Furnas Marion Case
1889–1966
Lola E Lauchner Case
1890–1978
Spouses
Hazel May Bailey Case
1919–1978
Christine Nance Case
1924–2008
Siblings
Winifred Irene Case Karnosky
1920–2020
