Colonel (USAF RET.) Ian Andrew O’Connor, a resident of Hutchinson Island (Jensen Beach), Florida, passed away on June 5, 2026 at age 81. Born in Liverpool, England, on August 16, 1944, he immigrated to Canada at the age of ten with his family. Four years later they moved to the United States where he graduated from Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas, in 1964, with a B.A. degree in Political Science.

In November 1965 he joined the Air Force and was commissioned a second lieutenant in February 1966 and served on active duty for the next five years as an aerial photo reconnaissance officer. His first assignment after completing the Precision Photo Officer course at Lowery AFB in Colorado was with the 1st Air Commando Wing at England AFB in Louisiana from 1966 – 1968. While there he attended the Special Air Warfare Counter Insurgency Course at Hurlburt Field in Florida, and the Tropic Survival School Course at Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone. His next posting was to Headquarters 13th Air Force at Clark AFB in The Philippines for eighteen months with temporary duty assignments to RF-4C Reconnaissance Squadrons in Thailand and Vietnam. He next served as a staff reconnaissance officer at Headquarters Tactical Air Command from 1969 to 1970 and was released from active duty. He transferred into the Ready Reserves.

Two decades later as a reserve lieutenant colonel, Ian was ordered back to active duty during the First Gulf War as a squadron commander in the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead AFB, South Florida. At the time he was the only USAF reserve officer to command an active duty squadron, and that singular distinction was instrumental in his promotion to colonel. During the course of his 28-year career, he graduated from Squadron Officer School, the Air Command and Staff College, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and the Air War College. 

Post retirement, Ian was affiliated with Landmark Insurance of the Palm Beaches for many years providing business and professional insurance coverage for physicians and medical practices. He retired from that second career in 2018.

Ian was awarded U.S. Patent No. 3841513 for inventing a childproof container to safeguard children from ingesting dangerous drugs and other toxic household products.

He was also the author of several books. His first novel, The Twilight of the Day, was a military themed thriller published by Writers Club Press in 2001. It received high praise in a Military Times literary review for its realism and chilling story about a group of U. S. pilots held as POWs during the Vietnam War. A copy is still in the United States Air Force Academy McDermott Library in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That honor was repeated with the inclusion of his coauthored biography SCRAPPY: A Memoir of a U.S. Fighter Pilot in Korea and Vietnam, of USAF Colonel Howard ‘Scrappy’ Johnson, the 1958 Collier Trophy recipient for that year’s greatest achievement in aeronautics. Colonel Johnson was a founding father of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association in 1967. The book was published by McFarland & Company in 2008 and enjoyed international acclaim within the aviation community.

Ian was a member of the Air Commando Association (ACA), The Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association (RRVA), The Air Force Association (AFA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and The American Legion. He held a commercial pilot’s certificate and was rated to fly both single and multi-engine aircraft.

Ian is survived by his wife of 38 years, Candice Myers O’Connor; sisters Sheila Gibbons of Largo, Florida, and Maureen Brosnan, M.D. of Narberth, Pennsylvania; Sisters-in law Margaret Datsman O’Connor, Tamara Myers Giubardo, and Jeannie Myers. He was preceded in death by his parents, James A. O’Connor, M.D., Eileen T. O’Connor, and brother, Alan E. O’Connor. 

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Treasure Coast Seswinds Funeral Home in Stuart, Florida. Interment, with full military honors, will be held at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Florida. Please contact the Treasure Coast Seawinds Funeral Home for details. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the charity of choice of those wanting to remember Ian.