Jon Mercurio ♠
It may be a coincidence with the current pandemic fears that Jon retired as the Director of the US Army's Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory. The Laboratory was the leader in research on the airborne dispersal of aerosols associated with Chemical/Biological Warfare. Jon found his way there after teaching cloud and aerosol physics at the University of Missouri, Rolla, having received his PhD in Atmospheric Physics from UCLA, specializing in aerosol physics. Jon began playing Bridge in 1960, his freshman year in college, and continued playing "Party Bridge" during his 5 year tour in the USMC. Then, Graduate school, family and career got in the way. Jon picked up bridge 40+ years later, quickly becoming a club director. Jon has been directing (mostly) and playing for 10 years. He is as dedicated to the game almost as much as he is to his yearly vacations in his mother country (Italy), and to wine. Along the way Jon even found time to own a flight school and be a professional pilot, flying 737's for United Airlines, DC-9's for East African Airways and flying cloud seeding missions in the US, Kenya, and India. Jon is a certified director and an ACBL accredited teacher.Ray Depew ♣
Ray was born and raised in the Philadelphia, PA area, the oldest of eight. His 5th grade teacher taught him bridge and chess. He will be the first to tell you that bridge is his life. After graduating from Bloomsburg University he worked for the liquor control board in PA. He ran bridge tournaments for 14 years in Northeast PA. Ray is always available to answer any questions you have about a bridge hand. He is an accredited teacher and director and provides free lessons on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Bonita Bridge. His quest is to make everyone a better bridge player. He says if everyone else becomes a better player , it will make him a better player. In 2009, while attending a national tournament in Washington DC, he had 3 heart attacks, but continued to play. Afterwards he drove himself home and then, on the next day, to the hospital where he had quadruple bypass surgery. Three days after his hospital discharge he was back at the bridge table. He believes that duplicate bridge is the greatest game for old and youg alike. In 2013, he and Peggy Yeager moved to Naples, FL where he continues his love of the game. We at Bonita Bridge are grateful that he decided to move here.