In Memoriam

James Robert Cannon (BSCE ’47 MSCE ’56), passed away on April 16, 2005 in Walnut Creek, California. Born on September 14, 1925, Jim was a graduate of South Pasadena High School and the University of Southern California, where he held three degrees including a B.E. and M.S. in Civil Engineering. He served his country during World War II in the U.S. Navy on the battleship USS Mississippi and later achieved the rank of Commander in the Navel Reserve Civil Engineering Corp (Seabees). He was a distinguished civil engineer specializing in water resources for more than 40 years, retiring as Chief Design Engineer at the consulting firm Bookman Edmonston. Jim was an enthusiastic sailor and after retiring pursued world travel and volunteer work.

He leaves behind his wife of 52 years, Marian Griffith Cannon, his son and daughter-in-law Frederick L. Cannon and Jean Mitchell, daughter Linda Cannon-Reese and five beloved grandchildren: Kyle Cannon, Griffith Cannon, Claire Cannon, Tyler Cannon-Reese and Tucker Cannon-Reese. He was preceded in death by his father, mother, step-mother Ruth Cannon and his brother William (Bill) Cannon. He will be sadly missed by all, but his spirit and his commitment to his family will be long remembered. Jim was an exemplary husband, father, grandfather and friend.

F. A. (Eddy) Kroger, an original member of the USC Viterbi School’s materials science faculty and a professor emeritus, passed away on March 17, 2006 in Encinitas, California of complications from a fall and Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 90.

Kroger’s work contributed significantly to the basic understanding of electronic materials, was vital to semiconductor technology and led to the development of many practical devices. He was also a scientist with a keen sense of social responsibility warning that unless humans became willing to sacrifice some of the amenities of modern life, that science could become like an ‘uncontrollable cancerous growth’.

Born on September 11, 1915 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, he was one of the youngest candidates, at 22, to receive a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam in 1937.

Kroger was a research scientist for Philips Electrical for 25 years in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In 1964, he moved to the U.S. to become a USC professor of electrical engineering. The following year he became a professor of materials science in the engineering school’s new materials science department. In 1972, he was the first recipient of the Hewlett-Packard Chair in Electrical Engineering.

His published books include The Chemistry of Imperfect Crystals and Luminescence in Solids and he authored numerous research articles in his field. He was a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and was awarded the Chandon Gold Medal from the French Society of Mineralogy and Crystallography in 1979. In 1980, he retired from his academic and administrative duties at USC.

Kroger was preceded in death by his second wife, Inka Pietersz. His survivors include his first wife, Elisabeth Nicholson of Carlsbad, California, his son Frank Kroger of Seattle, his daughter Catharine Kroger-Diamond of San Diego, his grandson Matthew Kroger-Diamond, his grandson Robert Pietersz of the Netherlands, and his granddaughter Solange Pietersz, his ‘little angel’, of the Netherlands.

Services were held Monday, March 20, at Silverado Care Center in Encinitas, California, with ashes to be scattered in his beloved Pacific Ocean.

Eberhardt Rechtin, (1926 – 2006) a USC Emeritus Professor and Honorary Degree Recipient, who had academic appointments in three departments, died April 14 following a long illness. He was 80 years old.

“All of us at the Viterbi School will miss Eb who was a giant in the aerospace industry and a creative force in the academic realm,” said Yannis Yortsos, dean of the Viterbi School. “It was through his leadership that the Viterbi School established the graduate program in Systems Architecting and Engineering, which continues to be one of our most successful programs.”

At USC, Rechtin held joint appointments in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in the departments of Electrical Engineering, and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He played a key role in the development of U.S. space technology and had a storied career in government and industry before coming to USC.

“I first met him in January, 1955 when he visited me at Harvard when I was a graduate student,” said Solomon Golomb, professor of electrical engineering. Rechtin was trying to recruit Golomb for his group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “I had just received a Fullbright Fellowship, but I eventually went to work for him in August, 1956.”

In addition to Golomb, Rechtin’s JPL group included future USC electrical engineering faculty William Lindsey and Lloyd Welch, as well as Andrew Viterbi, where they made fundamental advances while developing U.S. space technology, particularly deep space communications. Nobel laureates had told Rechtin that communication with spacecraft at the edge of the solar system would be impossible, but he and his group accomplished that feat with technology still in use today. All five were eventually elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Rechtin received his B.S. (with honors) and Ph.D. (cum laude) from Caltech where William Pickering, the director of JPL, which was administered by Caltech, was his advisor. Rechtin started at JPL as an engineer in 1948 and left in 1967 as an assistant director.

Rechtin moved to the Department of Defense (DoD) where he was director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now DARPA), then Principal Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, and finally, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Telecommunications, each for a term of two years. While at the Pentagon, he met David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett Packard who was deputy secretary of defense and who recruited Rechtin to become chief engineer for his company.

In 1977, Rechtin became chief executive of Aerospace Corp. for a term of 10 years. He tripled revenue while advising the Air Force on development of such big technology projects as the Global Positioning System and Star Wars missile defense program.

Upon retiring from Aerospace Corp. in 1987, he joined the faculty at USC where he created the Systems Architecting and Engineering Program. Rechtin said the field was known as “the front end of systems engineering” because of its emphasis on conceptualization, design management and certification for use, and dealt with problems that are ill-structured, non-replicable and non-measurable.

“In addition to writing some of the defining literature on systems architecting, he was a superb teacher who never failed to inspire students,” said Stan Settles, professor of industrial and systems engineering who currently directs the Systems Architecting and Engineering Program.

In addition to being an NAE member, Rechtin was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Association for Advancement of Science and the Institute of Environmental Sciences. He received IEEE’s Alexander Graham Bell Award, the DoD Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S. Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S. Air Force Exceptional Service Award and the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. He was honored with Caltech’s Distinguished Alumni Award and the AIAA’s von Karman Lectureship.

Born in 1926 in New Jersey, Rechtin served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1958. He was an accomplished musician who played the piano, violin and other instruments. A resident of Rolling Hills Estates, he is survived by his wife of 55 years, the former Dorothy Denebrink (Deedee), five children, four grandchildren and a sister, Joan Lincoln.

A memorial service was held April 23 at the Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes Estates.