Bayard "Kess" Kessler

October 6, 1937 - December 1, 2019 Bayard F. "Kess" Kessler, 82, passed away on December 1, 2019 in Indio, California. Kess was born in 1937 to Norbert and Alice Kessler in Racine, Wisconsin, and spent his childhood in Racine and Lake Worth, Florida. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering at Marquette University. In 1961 he married his first wife, Mary Alice Liess, and signed on to be crew for six-months on a 100-foot schooner sailing from Los Angeles to Tahiti. After their honeymoon, Kess worked at Hughes Aircraft as a programmer for the Minuteman ICBM missile program. In 1969 Kess left Hughes and co-founded Novation, one of the first modem manufacturing companies in the world. He was the inventor of ten patents. In 1970, he met and, later, married Agnes "Agi" Nagy. In 2003, Kess and Agi became leaders in the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley. Kess was a lifelong sailor and eventually built his dream boat, a 48-foot teak sailboat that he named, the Endeavor. Later he purchased property in Belize with the goal of developing an eco-tourism resort. Kess was preceded in death by his parents, and two sisters, Patricia Kessler and Kathleen Ouellette. He is survived by his wife Agnes Nagy Kessler, his brother Robert Kessler, his daughters, Cheryl Kessler, Janette Kessler, and Sandra (Mark) Howlett, and seven grandchildren. A memorial will be held for him at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 16, 2020 at Sun City Shadow Hills, 80814 Sun City Blvd., Indio, California.