Dr. Rocco Leonard Martino, a world-renowned inventor, author, and technology industry pioneer, who was at the forefront of many of the computer and information applications that make our information age possible, died peacefully on Monday, June 29, 2020 surrounded by family at home in Villanova, PA. He had recently celebrated his 91st birthday, and his passing followed a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. Dr. Martino is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Barbara I. Martino (nee D'Iorio), his sons Peter, Joseph, Paul, and John, 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Dr. Martino was born in Canada on June 25, 1929, the son of Domenico Martino and Josephine DiGiulio, who had both emigrated from Italy. Known affectionately to his friends as "Rocky", he was raised in Toronto together with his older brother Jiacomo ("Jack"), with whom he was very close. Their mother died when Rocco was eight years old, shaping his lifelong devotion to the Blessed Mother and to organizations supporting motherhood and medical care. His values and interests were molded in Toronto in close connection with family, the Catholic Church, educational excellence, and giving back to his community.  He excelled in all areas of academics and athletics, and in 1956, earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Institute of Aerospace Studies at the University of Toronto. His doctoral research and dissertation was an essential work on heat calculations for the re-entry of space vehicles that made manned space missions possible. The Canadian and U.S. departments of defense took notice, and his accomplishments multiplied manyfold thereafter.

In the 1950s, Dr. Martino worked closely with some of the brightest technological minds at the time, from Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of radar, to Admiral Grace Hopper, the leading U.S. Navy computer scientist, to Dr. John Mauchly, the co-inventor of the first electronic computer, ENIAC. His early accomplishments spanned the range of computer language formulation, compilers, translators and system generators. These techniques were subsequently employed in science, engineering and finance systems worldwide.

By 1959 and into the 1960s, Dr. Martino, in partnership with Dr. Mauchly, pioneered the Critical Path Method, a methodology aimed at efficiency in planning and scheduling any kind of project, most especially new product development and innovation. This was used for such projects as launching the first U.S. ballistic missile submarines to building the original World Trade Center twin towers. By the late 1960s, Martino opened the first national computer training center and advised businesses and organizations far and wide in best practices for implementation of computer systems. In 1969, the year he turned 40 years old, the first database company he founded went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1972, Dr. Martino founded software company XRT, Inc. to automate financial, business, and medical systems for a myriad of industries, conceiving and developing multi-user, secure, fully redundant, real-time systems. The result was that by the mid-1990s, approximately three trillion dollars per day were processed through systems designed and created by Dr. Martino and his team at XRT. Never resting on his laurels, by the mid-1990s he also conceived of and developed the CyberFone, the precursor to the smart phones of today, securing the patents for one of the most ubiquitous and important inventions of the past 100 years. He dreamed up the pairing of a cellular phone as a data entry device for computer systems, and had all this operational by 1995, a decade before the iPhone was introduced.

Dr. Martino's accomplishments, however, were far more than scientific and business oriented. During his life, he authored over 30 books, from business management textbooks to novels, from scientific treatises to works on faith, and a few personal memoirs. His love for Catholic education also spawned an incredible philanthropic legacy.

Dr. Martino's service for others had wide-ranging impacts on local to global communities, from leading the fathers' clubs at his sons' schools, St. Aloysius Academy in Bryn Mawr and St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia in the 1970s and early 1980s to later serving as Vice Chairman of the Special Gift Committee of Catholic Charities, International Chairman of the campaign for restoration of the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, to leading various national and international charity drives. He served as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta; and a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory. As a Knight of Malta, he attended pilgrimages to Lourdes nine times. He actively served as a Board Member to many organizations including the Vatican Observatory Foundation, Legatus, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the National Italian American Foundation, the Gregorian University Foundation, and the Papal Foundation.

Despite his scientific, business and philanthropic accomplishments, to his sons and their friends, Dr. Martino was always an incredibly involved "Dad" – from coaching his sons' Little League baseball teams to leading their Cub Scout troops and shuttling them to countless sailing regattas along the Jersey shore. They recall fondly that he was always serving as Regatta Chairman or working on the race committee or a patrol boat to ensure his boys and their friends were safe and actively engaged in sailing fairly and competitively. Although he was a latecomer to sailing, he taught himself to sail and thoroughly enjoyed being on the water and by the sea. Always rising to the occasion, Dr. Martino served as Commodore of the Yacht Club of Sea Isle City in 1974 and as Commodore of the South Jersey Yacht Racing Association in 1980-81, and on the boards of each organization for years. He loved spending summers by the ocean with Barbara, his sons, and their families at their summer home in Sea Isle City, NJ.

Together with his wife Barbara, Dr. Martino traveled the world, visiting many countries, and giving speaking engagements on a multitude of scientific, business, and religious topics. Among countless trips to Rome, he and Barbara had the distinct honor to meet Popes John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis. In his later years, he devoted much time and energy to writing books that embodied his deep faith. His most notable works of the past decade include: The Resurrection, a critical examination of the execution and resurrection of Jesus, which unfolds as a narrative of real-life exchanges among familiar figures of Christianity and Judaism in the first century; and Rocket Ships and God , a book which bridges the gap between faith and scientific reason in the search for truth.

Throughout his life, Dr. Martino received many honorary degrees, awards and distinctions. His most recent awards included the Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction Award from the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies in 2017 and the Grand' Ufficiale al Merito Melitense award from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 2020 "for his countless contributions for the betterment of society and to our Roman Catholic Church."

Dr. Martino is remembered by his family not only for his brilliance and ingenuity, but more for his joie de vivre, warmth, strength of character, integrity, perseverance, and love for family and friends. He always sought to serve others, reaching out and helping solve problems with wisdom and comforting those in need with empathy. His courage in the face of adversity was also legendary, continually fighting through a myriad of health challenges to live and work another day and accomplish yet another goal. As one of his sons states: "On June 29, 2020, Dad was called by God, and now finally has a chance to rest. His life and lessons will always be with us, but we will miss him dearly."

Relatives and friends are invited to a Viewing Sunday July 5, 4-6 PM at McConaghy Funeral Home, 328 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore PA or on Monday July 6 from 9:30-11:00 AM at St. Katharine of Siena Church, Lancaster & Aberdeen Aves., Wayne, PA. with Funeral Mass to commence at 11:00 AM.  Entombment will follow in SS. Peter & Paul Cemetery, Springfield, PA.

*Due to Covid 19, all attendees will be required to wear a mask, observe social distancing and refrain from physical contact.

His family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations in Dr. Martino's memory be made in support of Catholic education to The Rocco & Barbara Martino Foundation, in care of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, Attn: Michele Lubus, 2005 Market St., Ste. 2600, Philadelphia, PA 19103.