John E. Thron

Portland – John E. Thron, 93, passed away in Portland on November 6, 2026. He was born in New York City on April 24, 1933 and attended schools in Montclair, New Jersey. He graduated magma cum laude in philosophy from Princeton University and attained a masters degree in applied physics from Harvard.

John joined the computer industry in its infancy, working first for Honeywell on their earliest computers. He left the corporate world in the late 1960s to form his own computer consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Between consulting assignments, he and his partners developed a computer system that measured the performance of applications running on IBM mainframe computers. That soon became the entire focus of the company and his wife, Anna Marie joined the company. Their program product was sold throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan and the company grew to 250 employees. He sold the company at the turn of the century and joined Anna Marie in retirement in Maine, spending summers in their Boothbay home and winters in the Portland area.

John served on the boards of the University of New England, Maine Audubon, and Maine Conservation Voters and volunteered with SCORE.

He was predeceased by his brothers, Drs Dennis and Thomas Thron and is survived by his wife Anna Marie and his brothers’ extended families.

The family thanks The Cedars Portland for his years of care.

There will be no service. Arrangements are under the direction of the Conroy-Tully Walker, Cremation, Funeral, and Gathering Center, 300 Allen Ave. Portland.

In lieu of gifts to their home, memorial donations may be sent to Portland Stage Company, P.O. Box 1458, Portland, ME 04104; the Nature Conservancy in Maine, or The Cedars Development Office, 630 Ocean Avenue, Portland, ME 04103