Angelo Borzachillo

ANGELO BORZACHILLO 1927-2020

It is with a heavy heart the family announces the passing of Angelo Borzachillo, at the age of 93. ""Ang"" passed at home in his sleep, with family present. He is pre-deceased by his son Steven and survived by his wife of 70 years, Victoria, his daughters, Angela and Camille, grandchildren Carolyn, Melissa and her new husband Nate, and Steven, great-granddaughter Harper, and his best little buddy Bentley the pug.

Ang grew up in Pennsylvania. His first home in Rose Point was without electricity until his older brother Tony (deceased) built a hydroelectric power system drawing from a small creek behind the house. The family weathered the great depression in their next home in New Castle where they raised vegetables, a couple of pigs, and a cow. As a small child, Ang road on the back of his German shepherd and raised an abandoned crow he named Charlie who followed him everywhere, until the bird came of age and flew away. How far Ang flew in the ensuing years!

Always intrigued with flight, Ang obtained his pilot's license at 16 years old. His mother Rose had scraped together the money for flying lessons as a consolation for refusing to give her permission for him to play football, which she believed was more dangerous.

At 17 years old, with WWII still raging and armed with his father Angelo's permission, Ang took to the sea and enlisted in the Navy, much to his mother's mortification. Ever resourceful, Mother Rose coerced brother Tony to also enlist in order to watch over Ang. But her plan was foiled when Tony was dispatched to China while Ang served as a gunner's mate on the battleship North Carolina in the Pacific during the Battle of the Philippine Sea and later as a Shore Patrol officer in Hawaii.

After the war, Ang returned to the sky. He and a Marine Corp buddy bought a P-38 for $1,500 with plans to race in the 1947 Cleveland Air Races. But on his way from Los Angeles to Cleveland, his buddy crashed landed the aircraft in Winslow, Arizona, disrupting those plans. The plane was repaired and eventually entered the race in 1948 and 1949. Ang later enlisted in the Air Force Reserve as a second lieutenant and entered flight school. But the loss of hearing in one ear brought the dream of flying to an end. He remained in the reserves until 1957.

Not deterred and true to his love of flight, Ang enrolled in the Aeronautical University in Chicago, Illinois. Now married to the lovely Victoria and with one child, Angela, he moved his family to California and took a position with Northrop Corporation in Hawthorne, where he worked for over 30 years, and returned as a consultant for 2 more. During his tenure, he worked on, among other aircraft, the T-38 Trainer, F-89, F-5, and F-18, for which he held 2 patents,.

In the meantime, Ang and Victoria bought their first home, a new tract house with a mortgage less than the cost of a rental. Their family grew with the addition of Steven and Camille. Ang and Victoria went on to build 2 custom homes, one of which little Steven almost burned down during construction playing with matches left by a contractor.

Ang was home every night promptly at 5:30 p.m., when one could still drive from Hawthorne to South Torrance in 30 minutes. Still, he sometimes found the toddler Steven falling asleep at the dinner table with his little face threatening to land in a bowl of food. Ang helped his children with the math homework, could fix the cars and any appliance or broken toy, and was always building something, from fences to patios to gazebos to furniture. With his engineering background and perfectionist leanings, we would joke that if what he built had wings, it could fly.

Together, Ang and Victoria raised three children. As a tribute to their role as remarkable parents, they produced a successful attorney, a civil engineer who worked on facilities for the B-2 Stealth Bomber, and a talented entrepreneur, who, as a child, triumphantly danced her way to across the pond.

When not working, repairing and building, Ang could be found strumming his guitar and singing country western music, and tending his avocado ranch in San Marcos. After retiring from Northrop, Ang continued to strum his guitar, work on the ranch, learned to maneuver on the internet, taught himself to create video DVDs, and proudly grow his favorite plumeria trees from cuttings, which were highly sought after by all who saw them.

In 2002, Ang experienced the ""saddest day of his life"" with the death of his only son at the age of 44, for whom he and Victoria cared through the last years of Steven's long battle with cancer. In 2006, Ang authored his autobiography. In keeping with his devotion to family and generous manner, he wrote the following: ""This Is Your Life is dedicated to his Wife Victoria and Children: . . . . Without their love and dedication, Angelo's accomplishments in his life could not have been a success.""

Daddy, you will be sorely missed by all, but by none more than your boy Bentley who sits on the arm of your chair, looking toward your room with anticipation, waiting for you to emerge to join him.