Homer Denius

HOMER DENIUS COLORADO SPRINGS, CO Homer Rainey Denius was born in Appomattox, VA January 31, 1914 to Frank and Margaret Denius, and passed away Thursday, April 20, 2006. After the death of Margaret from the 1918 flu epidemic, Homer moved to the Methodist Church home in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was raised. At the age of 18 he attended the University of Cincinnati night school earning a degree in Electrical Engineering. As an electrical engineer, Homer began work with Crosley Corporation where he met and married his wife Grace in 1936. Over the next several years, Homers career advanced as he worked with Magnavox and Avery Fisher. By the mid 1940s Homer had achieved the posi tion of Vice President of Melpar Corporation, a defense contrac tor located in Alexandria, VA. In 1949, Homer decided to found his own defense contracting company with the focus that telemetry and its ancillary com ponents were the wave of the future. He decided that Mel bourne, FL located near the Cape Canaveral rocket test cen ter was the place to fulfill his dream. He invited George Shaw to join him in his endeavor, and while living with his wife Grace and three children in the Blue Bird Motel in south Melbourne Beach, Radiation Inc. was cre ated. Radiation Inc. designed and manufactured telemetry equipment for the early rockets and grew vigorously in parallel with the development of the United States space program. As founding President Homer guided the company through the early hard times and on to the success of becoming one of central Floridas largest employ ers. In the middle 1960s Homer oversaw the merger of the high ly successful Radiation Inc and Harris Intertype Inc. The result ing company then changed its name to Harris Corporation. Homer served as Vice Chair man of the Board of Harris Corporation until 1969 when he retired from the corporate world to pursue his own interests. While in Florida, Homer and Grace spent as much time as they could both fishing and exploring the Florida coast and the Bahamas. He also took up ocean yacht racing participating in and winning many races in the Southern Ocean Racing Cir cuit, the Newport/Bermuda Race, the trans-Atlantic race and the Australian Sailing Cir cuit. In the early 1970s Homer purchased a cattle ranch in northern Wyoming where he bred and raised AQHA cutting horses including the famous sire, Montana Doc. In the 1980s Homer returned to reside in Melbourne, FL. Throughout all his time in the central Florida area, Homer was an avid and effective supporter of the local community, espe cially the educational resources providing generous financial support to, and energetic serv ice on the Board of Directors of both the Brevard Engineering College and its successor, the Florida Institute of Technology. In the final two years of his life, Homer returned to the west and the loving care of his surviving children in Colorado Springs, CO. After a very full, productive and generous life of 92 years that served as an inspiration to all who knew and loved him, Homer passed to the hands of the Lord on April 20, 2006. Homer is survived by two children, eleven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. There will be a memorial service for Homer Denius at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, May 6, 2006, at Holy Trinity Church in Melbourne, FL.