Greg Jackson

Jackson, Greg
Middleton: Greg Jackson has left the land and passed to the sea. President and co-founder of Tormach Inc., Greg died July 14 in a sailing accident on Lake Michigan. Greg was a visionary in the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) world. He believed that the personal CNC machine could follow the path of the PC as a platform for people to express their creativity and implement their ideas. Since the introduction of its first small scale CNC milling machine in 2002, Tormach has grown from a garage business to a world-wide operation based out of Waunakee, Wisconsin. Greg has been awarded four US patents for innovations in the CNC field.
Founding partner Ed Korn said, "Greg was the face of the company. He was a great communicator". According to Engineering and Technical Manager Matt Doeppers, "What was most important to Greg was the culture he cultivated inside Tormach. Greg built a family of colleagues who are respected, valued, heard, and who have the unquestioned freedom to fail". Matt continued, "Be open to challenge and be open to being wrong. Greg was able to step back, re-evaluate and change course if needed. He would seek out a mistake, even if it was his own, and focus on what we learned from it. In the absence of a lot of policy and red tape, Tormach has the agility to change direction rather quickly. A true asset. The environment here is a big reason for the company's success".
Greg was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1952, the fourth child of Ruth and William Jackson. He attended Nicolet HS and earned a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from UW-Madison. While in graduate school be built and maintained a pre-internet bulletin board that allowed engineers to exchange useful software and ideas via dial-up connections. In 1986 he married Jacqueline Schroeder and in 1989 completed his masters and joined Marquip Inc. in Madison, WI.
On a summer vacation in Bay View, WI, Jacqueline changed Greg's life for a second time when she picked a private sailboat cruise over a fishing excursion on Lake Superior. As the boat sailed into the dock, she recalled, "You could see it in his eyes". He had found his element. He was a sailor. Within a week he had purchased a second hand catamaran and within a year was crisscrossing Lake Mendota in his 23 foot Catalina, the Compass Rose. He earned his Captain's license in 1994 and in 2001 proudly completed 60 hours of brutal, competitive downwind sailing in the 5th Chicago to Mackinac Solo challenge.
Greg had a great and abiding love for his wife Jaqueline, for his family, his friends, and for his colleagues. He loved life. He loved to laugh and he loved his work. He loved as a sailor: with humility and wonder, in solitude and joyous community and with his eye ever on the horizon.
Greg is survived by his wife Jacqueline; his mother Ruth of Tampa, FL; brother Geoff Jackson of Garland, TX; sisters Julie Jackson of Huninton, WV and Tere Zimmerman of Sheboygan, WI.
Visitation will be held from 10 to 11 AM on Wednesday, July 22 at the Cress Center, 6021 University Avenue, Madison, WI. The Memorial service will be held at 11 AM followed by luncheon.
Memorial contributions may be made in Greg's name for an Engineering scholarship.
Cress Center
6021 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53705
(608) 238-8406