Charles Aker

AKER, Charles Montie Passed away August 18, 2003. Charles was born on January 18, 1925 in Everett, Massachusetts. He attended Medford High School, Mass. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1945. He was stationed in Mississippi for basic training and then placement in the Air Corps. He was a colonel in the Air National Guard stationed in Massachusetts. He attended Wentworth Institute, and earned a degree in Steam and Diesel Engineering in 1948.
Charles attended Boston University earning a B.S. in Physics and Mechanical Engineering. He met the love of his life, Britta Berg. She was Miss Massachusetts 1950. They married and had four loving children. Charles worked for Raytheon in Boston. In 1952 they moved to Los Angeles. They settled in North Hollywood. Charles went to work in aircraft testing for Lockheed. The family moved to Canoga Park. He studied at the UCLA School of Business. He became an Assistant Dean for the UCLA Anderson Business School. The family moved to Chatsworth. Charles worked for I T TS' Aerospace and Optical Division from 1957 to 1972 at the Sylmar facility. He worked on the Viking lander with JPL, Pasadena, and Night Vision Scope and other fiber optic innovations. He was Vice President and President for the facility from 1967 until the 1972 earthquake when the division was moved out of state. After his lovely wife died in 1972, he went on to help found Automated Marine International, a satellite navigation systems company. He helped establish Omnithruster of Santa Fe Springs, CA. Charles developed ocean going thrust engines for the US Navy, oil drilling platforms, fishing fleets and ice cutters. His last business venture was the AEW development company. His business trips with each company took him all over the world. He had great stories to tell his family. He has been places and seen things we can only imagine. Charles owned property in Paso Robles over the last 10 years. First on Vineyard Drive and then on Cripple Creek Road. The central coast was his idea of paradise; here he planted grapes. He loved gardens. He always had one to putter in. He adored his children and grandchildren. He loved his hobbies and had an uncanny knack of involving both his loves with one another. He was a lifetime member of the NRA. He was an active member for many years with the Los Angeles Live Steamers Club at Griffith Park. His kids were always enlisted as helpers. He was an avid motorcycle rider who took his kids out to the eastern Mojave Desert for family camp outs. He loved the sea. He sailed his sloop, the Starwind, out of Newport Beach, CA. He was a member/ deacon of the Woodland Hills Congregational Church. He was a kind, loving and caring father and grandfather. He is survived by his sons, Charles Gregory and Lars Alexander; his daughters, Britta Ellen Hamrick and Heather Ann Aker; grandsons, Nathaniel and Charles Jothan Aker, Benjamen Addison Hamrick and John Casey Hall; granddaughters, Britta Contance Aker, Rosemary Hall; and great-grandaughter, Kaia Ivory King. Services will be held August 23rd at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Long Beach, at 10:00 a.m., with interment at Oakwood Cemetery in Chatsworth at 1:00 p.m. Viewing on August 22nd, from 3 to 7:00 p.m., at the Luyben Family Mortuary, 5161 Arbor Rd, Long Beach. 562-421-8411.