Andrew Dennis Hibbs

Andrew Dennis Hibbs was born in 1963 in Shrewsbury, England. He was raised in the English midlands town of Derby, where, surrounded by a large, loving family, he showed early signs of scientific genius. He attended Cambridge University in England where he pursued degrees in both engineering and physics while acting as the captain of his rowing crew at Christ College, coaching girls rowing and tutoring other students in math and physics. When he received his PhD in engineering and physics, he was offered a fellowship at Cambridge University, which was an exceptional honor which this young man of 24 declined in favor of pursuing a career in high technology in San Diego, California. It had been his dream, from the time he was a child to leave the constant rains of England, and to live his life as if on vacation, in a sunny place with a beautiful beach. To that end, he packed up his belongings and moved to La Jolla with his new wife, Susan in 1989. This marriage between two young people did not survive long, but produced a son, Stephen Andrew Hibbs, who would be a joy to his father and to his father’s later wife and children.

While working in high technology in high level positions at local firms such as Quantum Magnetics, Invision, and ISL, Andrew pursued his dream of owning his own business, beginning at first in his home office in his small house in Pacific Beach. He would fulfill that dream many times over, founding at least 5 high technology companies based on his inventions, beginning with QUASAR, or Quantum Applied Science and Research, in 1998. QUASAR Federal Systems, Advanced Neurometrics, GroundMetrics and Electronic BioSciences followed, all of which remain active and innovative companies to this date. Andrews innovations and inventions are too numerous to list. Earlier in his career, he worked on landmine detection and explosives detection for airline security, and his later innovations include sensing systems for applications ranging from sniper detection, lightning strike location, heart and brain signal collection, DNA sequencing, epilepsy monitoring and oil exploration and production. Andrew was a frequent contributor to scientific journals and conferences, and was an inventor on a large number of high tech patents. His many awards include the R&D 100 Award in 1992 and 1995, and “Person of the Year” by Superconductor Weekly in 1994. He received both the TR 100 Award from MIT Technology Review and the Technology Innovation of the Year Award from Aviation Week & Space Technology in 1997, Technology of the Year Award, Sensors Category, SBIR in 1998, Grand Winner of the SBIR Technology of the Year award in 1999, and a third R&D 100 Award in 2010. His most recent award was Gold at the World’s Best Technology Marketplace competition.

Although Andrew worked exceptionally hard running and guiding his businesses, he never forgot what truly mattered. He continued to love the sun and the beach all of his life, visiting it often to body surf and play in the waves with his children, and to run on the beach at sunset. He married his second wife, Mary in 1995, and they settled in the Mount Soledad area of La Jolla to raise their children, Lauren Amalie Hibbs, 16 and a junior at La Jolla High School, Aden Maxwell Hibbs, 14 and a freshman at La Jolla High School, and Tabitha Elizabeth Hibbs, 10, who is in 5th grade at La Jolla Elementary School.

He was a technological genius, but his family will always remember his softer side, his silly running jokes, and his love of games, gardening and travel. He had a great capacity for joy and love, and he will be sorely missed by his family and friends. Andrew maintained an exceptional level of fitness throughout his life, making his sudden passing at the relatively young age of 51 an incredible shock to those who knew him.

He is survived by his wife of 19 years, Mary; children, Stephen, Lauren, Aden and Tabitha; mother, Pauline; father, Dennis; brother, Antony; and sister, Alexandra. His family would like to thank the community of La Jolla for the tremendous outpouring of love, sympathy and care taking which they have received in their time of grief and need.