John was born in northern Iowa of farming parents. He began his education at the age of five ina one-room school house. There were nine grades and only six students, giving him the opportunity to eavesdrop on the older students. When he was nine, his parents moved to Brownsville, Texas. He graduated as valedictorian of his class of seven students from El Jardin,a country high school located on Boca Chica Blvd (the road to the beach and, now, to an Elon Musk SpaceX rocket site). John entered the University of Texas in 1951, where he studied mathematics and physics the three years he was an undergraduate, and finished a PhD in mathematics under H. S. Wall in 1957. John held academic positions at Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago; the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville; Emory University, in Atlanta; and the University of North Texas, in Denton. He spent most summers as a consultant, mainly in cryptography. By the time he retired from academia, he had mentored 30 successful PhD students, totaling 75 academic descendants. The website http://www.math.unt.edu/~jwn/ has a list of all but his most recent mathematics publications and vita, as well as an interesting and somewhat humorous autobiographical account of his education.John and his wife Barbara travelled extensively, both in the U.S. and abroad, where he gave numerous talks and seminars. They had many adventures, ate great food, and acquired wonderful friends all across the globe. In 2016, shortly after his retirement from UNT, he and Barbara moved to the Stayton at Museum Way, in Ft. Worth, Texas.John is survived by his wife Barbara of Fort Worth; son John Michael Neuberger of Flagstaff, Arizona, where he is a professor of mathematics at NAU; daughter Sandra Blackwell of Seattle, Washington; three grandchildren; and many friends.