John Peter Streck

John Peter Streck, 76, of Durham, NC, passed away peacefully in his home on April 14, 2026. He was the son of the late August and Vergie Streck of Albany, NY. He had been in Durham since the 1980s when he moved to NC with his loving wife, Lyn Colleen. They were married for 50 years.

John is survived by his wife, Lyn Colleen Streck of Durham, NC; his children, Sean Streck of Catonsville, MD, Erika Lyn Cerwin (Streck) of Chapel Hill, and Jessica Streck Ortolano of Durham; his grandchildren Kiera Anne Streck, John Murphy Streck, and Fiona Rose Streck of Catonsville, MD; Katherine August Cerwin and Robert Theodore Cerwin, II, of Chapel Hill, NC; and his siblings Joan Colleen Chesterfield of Clifton Park, NY, Mary Theresa Streck of Albany, NY, and Jeanne Marie Worgul of Pittsburgh, PA.

John was a true Renaissance man with an impressive breadth and depth in many disciplines. He was a scholar and an athlete. But his life was first and foremost dedicated to his family. He lived for them. He was a devoted husband, dedicated father, deeply involved grandfather, honored brother, and a super fun, prankster uncle. He lived with utmost intensity around good Catholic values, a growth mindset, and an undying passion for excellence in his building pursuits. He was a walking encyclopedia for just about anything. He was extremely strong physically and was a marathon runner, track star, and a certified open water scuba diver. He was a proud high school and collegiate sports enthusiast for our local schools: Durham Academy, UNC (especially the UNC Field Hockey Program), and NCSU. He was deeply principled in a way that gave us conviction, morals, and hope for tomorrow.

He graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, NY. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1972 and MS in Electrical Engineering in 1974, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He received his Professional Engineering license in 1977 and was a member of IEEE since 1970. John was a recognized internet pioneer, innovator, and leader who served as Assistant Vice-Chancellor of Communications Technologies for UNC-Chapel Hill (2005-2010), founding (Executive) Director of several advanced networking laboratories at North Carolina State University (2011-2022), and consultant on a number of research and security projects. He had extensive and well-established research, development, manufacturing, and management experience and achievements in both commercial and academic settings. He worked in the domains of semiconductors, Information Technology (IT) protocols, networking infrastructure, and architecture, government policies, and more. From 1974 to 1995, he worked in different capacities for IBM Corp in Burlington, VT, and then in Research Triangle Park, NC. In 1995, he joined MCNC Corp in Research Triangle Park, NC, and then in 1998, moved to NC State University, where he was heavily involved in Internet2 and similar activities.

John's professional interests, leadership, and pioneering efforts resulted in significant contributions to, for example, Internet2, National Lambda Rail (NLR), and the UNC System-wide common communication system needs and sustainability. From 2011, and for over a decade, he was also Adjunct faculty in the NC State University Department of Computer Science, where he taught networking projects and cloud computing courses. He was President of the JP Streck Engineering LLC since 2012.

Donations in John’s memory can be made to People’s Catholic Seminary, which was founded by his sister Mary Theresa, a Roman Catholic Woman Priest, at https://pcseminary.org/donate-2