April 20, 1934 – November 25, 2017
John O’Malley died on November 25, 2017 at his home in Athens, Ohio surrounded by family and friends. He is survived by his wife, Eileen, his son, Sean, his daughter-in-law, Michelle, his grandchildren, Rory and Donovan, his sister, Theresa Bright of St. Louis, MO, and his brother, Joe O’Malley of Advance, NC. He was preceded in death by his sister, Carol Kissling.
John was born in St. Louis in 1934 and spent most of his life there before moving to Ohio in 2013 to be closer to his son and grandchildren. John was an amateur boxer in his youth, starting with Golden Gloves and continuing to box during his stint in the US Army during the Korean War. During his career, he was never knocked out. He graduated from St. Louis University in 1958 and married Eileen Ulrich in 1961.
A maker and a doer, John founded O’Malley Business Systems in 1977 and remained with that venture until he retired. He had an analytical mind with a restless desire to learn, teaching himself to program on one of the early TRS-80 personal computers and then using that skill to write the billing software for his business.
Not satisfied with that bit of programming success, he went on to develop a statistical algorithm for betting on football that worked so well, he applied it to investment analysis. As John put it, “Beating the stock market is a lot safer than beating the bookies. You don’t get beat up if you win too much.” That computer algorithm became the basis for a successful investment newsletter, O’Malley’s Fidelity Watch. The newsletter did not survive the 1987 stock market crash, but the underlying system lived on as the Table of Trends. His son continues to use that system to this day.
John was a man of many interests, spending his free time on a series of hobbies including graphoanalysis, amateur radio, fishing, golf, Irish traditional music, and mountain biking. He didn’t take up those last two pursuits until his mid 60s! In his 70s, he tried his hand at online gaming, for a while becoming a nationally ranked driver on a couple of tracks in Forza 4 that favored his driving style. John always had a soft spot for driving games, all the way back to the original, insanely frustrating Atari Night Driver, so his success/obsession with Forza made sense.
John was a gregarious man, a generous man, and an incorrigible smart ass. Sometimes the latter got him in hot water: He wound up in Korea as an Army radio operator near the end of the war thanks to an SLU accounting professor who threatened to flunk him unless he joined the military “to grow up.” Given his success in life, the plan seems to have worked, though John remained a smart ass to his last day.
Memorial Details
Friends who wish to pay their respects can drop by the Jackie O’s Taproom at 25 Campbell St. in Athens, Ohio between 4pm and 6pm, Sunday, December 10.
A memorial service will be held in St. Louis at a later date.
What to Do
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to OhioHealth Home Care Hospice. Their assistance and consistent presence was invaluable during John’s last months.