ITI founder loses battle with cancer

An ITI product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 4, 2007

Dr Jason R Lemon, founder, CEO and President of ITI passed away on 27th December 2006 after a 20 year battle with cancer.

It is with deep sadness that International TechneGroup Incorporated (ITI) announces the passing of its founder, CEO and President, Dr Jason R Lemon.

Dr Lemon passed away on 27th December 2006 after a 20 year battle with cancer.

Dr Lemon, (Jack, to any who knew him), attended the University of Cincinnati and graduated in 1958 with a BS in mechanical engineering.

He continued his education at The Ohio State University where he received his MS in mathematics in 1960 and PhD in mechanical engineering in 1962.

After graduation Lemon worked full time at Cincinnati Milacron in their research laboratory.

In 1964, he left Cincinnati Milacron, to teach and research in mechanical engineering as a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati.

In three years, the UC programme provided funding for 50 undergraduate and graduate students in addition to 27 faculty members.

This program received funding from industry for machine tool and manufacturing research.

The focus of the research was on machine dynamics and several important new capabilities in the mechanical engineering field were achieved.

In 1967, Lemon founded Structural Dynamics Research Corporation and was joined by several other members of the UC programme.

The concept was to hire the best graduate students into the company, while continuing to do research at the university.

The SDRC business grew to a global business of approximately 300 people by the early 1980's and was an internationally recognised leader in CAE/CAT/CAD/PDM engineering and application software development.

SDRC eventually became part of UGS Corporation, a global leader in engineering and PLM technology today.

In 1983 International TechneGroup Incorporated was founded as Lemon's second startup vision.

ITI has become a recognised leader for product development best practice and technology deployment for major global manufacturers and government.

The company has employed over 200 people for nearly 25 years.

Over more than 40 years of managing high technology, rapid growth organisations in mechanical engineering and product development, Dr Lemon was well known for helping young engineers and entrepreneurs as they started their careers.

While working at the University of Cincinnati, SDRC and ITI, he helped hundreds to obtain educations while working on actual projects and business development.

Many have become leaders in education, business and industry.

Dr Lemon's diverse experience includes advanced product and manufacturing process development, together with in-depth knowledge of related application software integration and development.

Within aerospace, automotive, electronic, mechanical, CAE/CAD/CAM/CAT, and PDI technical organisations, Dr Lemon is internationally recognised as a pioneer and leader in the development of commercial: modal test and analysis methods and capabilities; building block analysis (BBA) and simulation methods (used worldwide in the analysis and development of complex mechanical and electronic products, vehicles and aerospace systems); integrated mechanical computer aided engineering (MCAE) systems; and concurrent product and manufacturing process development (CPPD) methods and related Product Data Integration (PDI).

While Dr Lemon's leadership will be missed, the company remains committed to carrying on the vision of the company's founder with his same passion for leveraging technology and excellence in product development.