Raymond William Mort Jr.

1938 - 2009

Inventor and avid aviator Raymond William "Ray" Mort Jr., an aeronautical design engineer who counted inventions for saving the lives soldiers and sailors of downed military helicopters among his many contributions to us all, died Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009. He was 70.
Memorial service: A celebration of Ray's life will start at 3 p.m. Sunday at Hicks Airfield in his hangar. Details are available at www.raymort.com or by calling 817-282-6940.
Memorials: His children have created First Flight Foundation (www.FirstFlightFoundation.com) in memory of Ray. The nonprofit foundation serves to promote the discovery of flight education for disadvantaged kids. Donations may be made to the foundation. Details for doing so are provided on the foundation's website.
The father of three died on his terms at his home of 36 years in Hurst after being hospitalized last week. Ray was diagnosed with prostate and lung cancer last year.
Known for his passion of flying, Ray spent his career designing helicopters and high performance aerobatic airplanes. He was awarded five patents for his work in aviation.
Born in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 12, 1938, Ray grew up in the outskirts of Chicago with his brother, Michael, and sisters, Pat and Linda. His father's family first arrived in America in the early 1700s. His mother's parents emigrated from Hungary, meeting each other on the boat.
Ray graduated in 1956 from Morgan Park High School, where he held the position of first lieutenant in the Army ROTC.
Ray attended Purdue University twice -â€" first earning his associate degree in aviation technology and later his bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering. In the process, his obtained his pilot's and aviation mechanic's licenses.
Ray moved to Texas in 1966. After working at General Dynamics for several years, Ray spent most of his career at Bell Helicopter. Most recently, he worked at Skyline Industries.
Ray also taught engineering classes for 18 semesters at Tarrant County College and provided consulting services through his company, AVT Engineering -â€" named for his three children: Adam, Valorie and Trey (Ray the third).
Blessed with a "we can do it" attitude, he was never intimidated by a challenge. Ray was known for his charm, sharp wit and everlasting smile.
He took great pride in being a father and cheering at his son’s sporting events, which he rarely missed. Ray enjoyed yard work and making improvements to his home. He was very mechanically skilled and loved working on his muscle cars. Recently, he supervised the complete restoration of his 1970 Firebird, a car he cherished for over 30 years.
In 1963, Ray applied his aviation and mechanical skills to rebuild a Piper J3 Cub. With just the bare instruments, he flew this plane on his move to Texas -â€" navigating by sight using a highway roadmap.
Several years later, he constructed a Gee Bee Racer to near completion in his garage from scratch -- no formal plans were available. He simply created the patterns and design by analyzing photos and researching historical information. His designs have been purchased by some of the world's top aerobatic pilots to build extreme performance planes for competition; a recent example is Steve Grohsmeyer’s Eignhawk solution.
Survivors: His wife, Luba; his siblings; and his children.