Farewell
Rajnikant Desai (M.S.’53 CE) died in November at the age of 94. His engineering firm, Raj Desai Associates, specialized in seismic engineering projects throughout California and Nevada.
Danard Emanuelson (B.S.’51 ME) died in November at the age of 95. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and he later worked at the Avon Refinery, Tidewater Associated Oil Co. and TOSCO Corp.
Richard Fernandez (B.S.’66 ME; M.S.’68, Ph.D.’72 NE) died in October at the age of 80. He had a long career in the nuclear power industry and was a founding member of the Electric Power Research Institute.
Louis Flores (B.S.’60, M.S.’65 EECS) died in September at the age of 91. He co-founded the North Bay Human Development Corp., a nonprofit that assisted farmworkers and low-income people, and co-created Clinic OLE, which provided medical care. He also earned a law degree from UC Hastings and had a law practice.
Victor Galindo (M.S.’62, Ph.D.’64 EECS) died in January 2022 at age 93. Joining the Jet Propulsion Lab in 1974, he retired as senior research engineer reporting to the chief scientist. An award-winning expert on the analysis and design of antennas and phased-arrays, he last consulted for Princeton in January 2000 on the Microwave Anisotropy Probe antenna system design.
Edward Goeppinger (B.S.’49 ME) died in October at the age of 97. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army. Following graduation, he worked at Bourns Laboratories for 40 years as an engineer, salesman and corporate officer.
James Graber (B.S.’58 ME) died in October at the age of 87. After earning his degree, he worked in the defense industry.
David Green (MEng ’66 CE) died in October at the age of 80. He served as professor of structural engineering, dean and vice principal at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
David Hodges (M.S.’61, Ph.D.’66 EECS) died in November at the age of 85. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1970, where his pioneering work in integrated circuit design and semiconductor manufacturing helped ensure the continuation of Moore’s law and contributed to the rapid growth of the tech industry. He served as the dean of Berkeley Engineering from 1990-96 and was highly regarded as an educator. He also held multiple leadership roles in IEEE and was a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Robert Howard (M.S.’67 ME) died in October at the age of 80. He was an aeronautical engineer at Boeing Corp., working on the supersonic transport. Later, he started a gourmet food business and worked as the CEO of Reisen Lumber Industries.
Rudin Johnson (B.S.’50 EECS) died in October at the age of 96. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corp. After graduating, he worked at Berkeley Lab for over 40 years.
Donald Johnstone (B.S.’64, M.S.’66 EECS) died in October at the age of 80. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Stanford University, then had a 44-year career working for various Silicon Valley companies.
Stephen Kenney (M.S.’73 CE) died in December at the age of 72. After a job as a civil engineer, he worked as a high school math teacher.
Robert Moe (MEng ’57 CE) died in October at the age of 90. He worked as an engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, where he remained for the course of his career. Prior to Berkeley, he was a surveyor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Peter Molinari (B.S.’49 Agricultural Engineering) died in December at the age of 97. He served in the U.S. Army, and over his career, worked as an engineer for Soule Steel as well as in the insurance industry.
Stephen Nesvold (M.S.’76 ME) died in December at the age of 74. He worked as a civil engineer at Omsburg & Preston for 22 years.
Randall Pack (M.S.’71 NE) died in December at the age of 82. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked at the Electric Power Research Institute, the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations and General Physics Corp. In 1997, he earned a master’s degree in computer science at Johns Hopkins University and then worked as a consultant.
Clements Pausa (B.S.’53 Metallurgy, M.S.’54 MSE) died in December at the age of 92. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and in the reserves for 20 years, retiring as a captain. Over the course of his career, he held leadership roles at National Semiconductor, Power Integrations, Alphatec Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
James Quist (B.S.’69, M.S.’74 ME) died in September at the age of 75. He was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, and he worked as an engineer for major companies, including Brown & Root, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Duke Energy Corp., Chevron Corp. and Bechtel Corp.
John Ravera (B.S.’60 EECS) died in November at the age of 88. He worked at Sacramento Municipal Utility District for 30 years, then went to work at PTI, where he developed and taught a power generation and transmission course.
David Charles Riley (Ph.D.’88 EECS) died in October at the age of 76. He worked at NASA on its Stellar Tracking Rocket Attitude Positioning (STRAP) System, related to identifying sources of energy outside our solar system. He worked as a professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and then joined Eneron, researching innovative fluorescent lighting.
Robert Sawyer died in November
at the age of 87. A professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, he joined the Berkeley faculty in 1965. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and he was considered a renowned expert in air pollutant emissions and their control.
Harold Scates (B.S.’58 ME) died in August at the age of 94. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then worked as an engineer until retiring from the Port of Oakland.
Ronald Schmidt (B.S.’66, M.S.’68, Ph.D.’71 EECS) died in September at the age of 78. He worked at Bell Labs and Xerox PARC before co-founding SynOptics Communications Inc. A pioneer in the field of intelligent LAN hubs over shielded twisted pair telephone wire, he was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a UC Berkeley Foundation trustee and longtime member of the Berkeley Engineering Fund board.
Richard Smith (B.S.’46 ME) died in October at the age of 97. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he worked at General Electric Co. for 44 years.
John Taber (M.S.’50 EECS) died in November at the age of 97. He worked at Hughes Aircraft and at TRW Inc. on satellite communications systems. His concept for Landsat image processing earned him the NASA Medal for Scientific Achievement in 1974.
Philip Threefoot (B.S.’61 EECS) died in August at the age of 84. He served in the U.S. Army for 32 years, rising to the rank of colonel and earning a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. Following military retirement, he had a second career as a software engineer.
Roger Tokunaga (B.S.’56 Agricultural Engineering) died in July at the age of 90. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and was awarded the Bronze Star. Later, he worked as an engineer and was the co-owner of Von Geldern Engineering.
Bernard Weiss (B.S.’58 EECS) died in September at the age of 90. He worked as an electrical engineer, and later, as a builder throughout Southern California. During the Korean War, he served in the U.S. Air Force as a radar technician.
