I wanted to post this here, from my Facebook feed, because it meant so much to me and my family to see all the comments on this message. Clink here to view the original post and comments.
We lost my dad this morning. He was not the kind of guy to be on Facebook, but I will share some thoughts about him here anyway. He was a tremendous guy. Interested in everything, but especially in how things worked. He could reverse engineer anything, understood how it all worked, just by thinking it through. He loved telling stories and knowing the history of everything. He never got a degree, but was the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. He was a real New Englander at heart, but came out to Los Angeles during the space race and was part of a great migration of engineering talent to this area and the aerospace industry. He was an entrepreneur, and started an engineering company with his good friends. He loved to sail and taught us all to love and respect the water. He was a brilliant father. My aunt once told me that when my mom brought him around at first she thought he looked too “hip” to be a good father, but in the end he was amazing. He was caring and smart and loving and gave the best hugs ever. He asked just enough questions but not too many. He told great stories of seeing all the greats sing in the clubs on the Sunset Strip before we all came along. And of exploits with my mom and aunt and uncle when they were all first married and living the hipster life in Manhattan Beach. He taught me to read and to love learning and adventure. He was eighty and had a good life, but we will miss him forever.