Air Force captain’s death a mystery

Officer, 35, died in his sleep at WrightPatterson AFB.

to determine a cause of death for the man who family members said did everything big.

“He lived life at full throttle,” said his father, Larry McDermott of Medina.

Over the course of his military career, Capt. McDermott served in the Marines, Ohio Army National Guard and Air Force.

“He didn’t do anything small,” said his sister-inlaw, Jennifer Kreiger. “If he was going to do anything, he did it at 110 percent.”

Luana McDermott said her son’s passion to go at things at full force extended to his hobbies.

“He didn’t just have a few movies; he had thousands,” she said. When he cooked, “he didn’t just cook a meal; he cooked feasts.”

She said she has learned he touched the lives of many in his 35 years.

“We didn’t realize our son was such a mentor,” she said.

In a letter to McDermott’s family, Maj. Gen. William N. McCasland, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson, wrote that “Jacob was known in the unit as a dedicated leader and a trusted friend.”

McDermott was responsible for technical aspects of a congressionally funded biofuel research project charged with developing better, cheaper and more sustainable fuel alternatives for the Air Force, McCasland said. The project was worth about $2.3 million a year and was deemed a success.

“It is rare and noteworthy that an individual can have such a significant impact,” the general said.

McDermott started working out with Marine recruiters while still in high school and entered boot camp in 1994. He served until 1998.

As soon as he got out, he joined the Ohio Army National Guard’s 1-107th Armored Battalion, Charlie Company, in 1998.

“He wanted to drive tanks,” his mother said.

Simultaneously, he entered college, studying chemical engineering at the University of Akron.

He served one tour in Iraq with the National Guard, from 2003 to 2005. A month after he got word he would be sent to Iraq, McDermott and Heather Kreiger were married.

After his deployment, he received his bachelor of science degree, graduating summa cum laude in 2006.

McDermott’s next efforts took him into the Air Force, family members said.

He entered Officer Training School and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 2007. He served in San Antonio for three years, working in the field of water purification.

In San Antonio, he began work on his master’s degree at St. Mary’s University.

When he and Heather moved to Wright-Patterson in 2010, McDermott finished his master’s studies at the University of Dayton.

Funeral services were held last weekend with burial at the national cemetery in northern Ohio on Saturday. Donations can be made at any FirstMerit Bank branch to the Memorial Fund for Jacob I. McDermott.