Jonathan Robert Cole left this earth on January 9, 2023 after a protracted illness. Jon was born on Jane Street in New York City on April 14, 1947, the second child of five and first son of Benjamin and Virginia Cole.

When Jon was eight the Cole family moved to a rural town in Massachusetts. He attended Mt. Hermon School for Boys and the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. Regardless of where he was, his love of nature and his innate curiosity and desire to think far into the future became a feature of his personality to all who knew him.

Jon was married and divorced twice, first to Elizabeth Shapiro with whom he had twins Amanda and Samantha Cole, and then to Elizabeth Siegel Cleary with whom he had Jason and Mariana Cole. In addition to his four children he leaves sisters Louise and Virginia and brother Dan, as well as many nieces and nephews.

In his early twenties Jon spent several years in the music business with his brother Dan, culminating in an appearance by their band, Quill, at the '69 Woodstock Festival and a recording contract. Then, after operating some small businesses in Cambridge, MA, he decided to move to the Big Island of Hawaii. There he and his second wife started several businesses.

Owing to the remoteness of his family's first Hawaiian property and a personal fascination with technological solutions, Jon became deeply interested in alternative energy. He spent the next 30 years of his life thinking about and creating ways that people could generate sufficient energy from the sun to light and power their world. He wrote a book and created a website, both called, 'Light on Earth', to promote this agenda in his desire to contribute to a positive future for humanity.

Jon was a father, a husband, a friend, a brother...an extraordinary person and intellect, and in the words of his mother, 'a one-of-a-kind-er'; he will be missed by those who knew him. At his wish there is no formal memorial planned. If you want to contribute to his memory, please feel free make a contribution to Hawaii Public Radio in his name.