George Harry Heilmeier's Obituary
HEILMEIER, GEORGE HARRY, a humble servant of Jesus Christ and a talented inventor, fought the good fight and stepped into Heaven on April 21, 2014. He will be profoundly missed by his family and friends, but we rejoice in knowing that he will spend all of eternity in Heaven with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. George was born on May 22, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Anna Heilmeier. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia as the number one graduate in his class, receiving a full-ride scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. In 1958, he became the first member of his family to graduate both high school and college with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He then went on to receive his M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in solid state materials and electronics from Princeton University. On June 24, 1961 he married the love of his life, Janet Faunce, in Philadelphia. They were married for almost 53 years. George was gifted with a brilliant mind by the Lord, and he used every gift he was given to its fullest ability throughout his illustrious career. After graduating from Prince-ton, he joined RCA Laboratories where, through working with electro-optic effects in liquid crystals, he created the first liquid-crystal displays for calculators, watches, computers, and instrumentation. This discovery was one of his most notable accomplishments and led to awards such as the David Sarnoff Award, the IR-100 Award for the most outstanding technical product of the year, and the Eta Kappa Nu Award as the Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer in the U.S. In 1991 he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President George Bush. In 1997 he was awarded IEEE Medal of Honor. In 2005 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize, the Japanese equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for his invention of the liquid crystal display. In 2012 he was awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize by the National Academy of Engineering. He is also a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and held 15 patents. In 1970 he was chosen as a White House Fellow where he served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. After serving as a White House Fellow, he stayed in Washington working as the Assistant Director of Defense Research & Engineering. In 1974 he became the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he led the team that developed the stealth aircraft, space-based lasers, numerous reconnaissance systems, infrared technology, anti-submarine warfare and artificial intelligence. He won the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal – the highest civilian award given by the Department. After his time at DARPA, he became the Vice President responsible for R&D at Texas Instruments in late 1977 and then became Chief Technical Officer in 1983. He left TI to become the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies), after six years at Bellcore, George retired from Bellcore and moved to Dallas, Texas to be near to his daughter and grandchildren. He continued to stay active on boards for General Motors, the University of Pennsylvania, the National Security Agency Advisory Board, National Defense Science Board, Fidelity Investments, Mitre, Hewlett Packard, TRW, and ADP. Although many will remember George by his amazing contributions to our country, those who knew George will remember him as a humble man who preferred a simple life, loved God and his family, who worked hard out of the gratitude of his heart for all God had given him. George leaves behind his beloved wife, Janet, his daughter, Beth Jarvie, and son-in-law Steve. He is also survived by his three grandchildren, Megan, Michael, and Ashley Jarvie and many close friends. A memorial service will be held to celebrate his life at 3pm on May 12, 2014 at St. Andrews United Methodist Church located at 5801 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75093.
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