Ivan Paul Kaminow

Ivan Paul Kaminow died on Dec. 18, 2013, in San Francisco, Calif., after a prolonged illness. Services will be held at the Jewish Memorial Chapel, 841 Allwood Rd., Clifton, N.J. 07012, (973)779-3048, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013, at 1 p.m. jewishmemorialchapel.org. Shiva information is available from the chapel upon request. Known as a photonics luminary, Ivan Kaminow's pioneering contributions advanced the field of optical fiber communications for nearly five decades. He was the recipient of many awards in his field, including the IEEE's prestigious Edison Medal in 2013. Born in Union City, N.J. and raised in Passaic, N.J., Ivan Kaminow attended Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.), got a master's degree at UCLA, and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He worked for over 40 years at Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J., until his retirement in 1996. During that time he lived in Tinton Falls, N.J. (formerly New Shrewsbury), and Holmdel, N.J. Most recently, he was an adjunct professor with the electrical engineering and computer science department at the University of California, Berkeley, and lived in San Francisco. To his family and friends, his accomplishments always took a back seat to his love for them, for learning, for adventure, and for living life to the fullest. Ivan Kaminow was always active, from playing football in college, to sailing or rowing on the Navesink, to traveling and photographing the world over, to serving on the New Shrewsbury school board, to making science fun for school children, to being a congressional fellow, or mentoring future scientists, to being a loving husband, brother, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin and friend. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Florence Fischer Kaminow, now of San Francisco; brother, Alan Kaminow, of White Meadow Lake, N.J.; children and grandchildren, Paula Kaminow, of Brookline, Mass., and her sons, Rafael and Gabriel Toledo, Leonard Kaminow (wife, Maria Mazorra), and children Sarah, Nicolas and Maura, and Ellen DiMatteo (husband, James), and children, Joseph and Sophia DiMatteo. In lieu of flowers, friends are invited to make a memorial donation to an OSA Foundation fund or endowment in honor of Ivan P. Kaminow; please visit www.osa.org/donate, or Union College, please visit www.union.edu/giving.