Dennis Michael Silva

Dennis Michael Silva, a long-time resident of Fremont, CA, passed away at home on February 8, 2026 after a short battle with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He was 82 – only a few weeks shy of his 83 rd birthday.

Born in Oakland, CA on February 27, 1943, Dennis was the only child of Antone P. and Catherine C. Silva. With an extended family living nearby, they saw one another often. The large family dinners during religious occasions were especially cherished, lasting well into adulthood.

As early as grammar school, Dennis developed a strong interest in science, sparked by a book that he had checked out from the school library. From then on, he vowed that this would be his chosen field of study. After graduating from Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo, CA where he easily mastered higher math and physics, he earned a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, a master's from San Jose State and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Washington in Seattle.

It was at the University of Washington where he met Susan Sachnowitz who was majoring in Spanish. When they first exchanged smiles in the cafeteria that summer of 1969, it was love at first sight. Wasting no time, they became engaged ten days later and married after only five months on January 2, 1970. It was a beautiful marriage, lasting until his death 56 years later.

After completing a post-doctoral assignment, Dennis and Susan moved to San Diego, CA in 1972, where he worked at Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) for fourteen years. During that time, Adrienne Marie was born followed by David Jeffrey three years later. Their small and loving family was complete.

Wanting to be close to his mother and extended family, they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986. Dennis worked at Ford Aerospace for three years and later Stanford Research Institute (SRI) until his retirement in 2016 and beyond. It was challenging work, and he had the opportunity to make numerous contributions.

For Dennis, learning was a passion. After taking full retirement, he wrote books on the history of the economy of the USA as well as the origin and expansion of the universe, which included our planet and life itself. This was followed by a beautiful collection of rhyme poems that he had written over the years, several of which were inspired by photos taken from our many hiking trips in our precious national parks as well as in Canada. Wonderful memories. . .

In addition to his writings, Dennis had other interests as well. In his late teens and early twenties, he would frequent bowling alleys and played against nationally ranked bowlers. At parties he would join other amateur musicians by playing the guitar and singing cowboy and folk songs from the sixties. Later in life, he would at times entertain the family by reciting narrative poems that he had easily memorized while in high school. On long road trips, he always included his favorites, Willie Nelson and John Denver, on our playlist. He also loved hot, spicy food and spent much time in the kitchen preparing delicious meals for the family. He was, in short, a man of many talents.

Dennis is survived by his wife Susan, his children Adrienne of Hayward, CA and David of Walnut Creek, CA, along with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Michael and Beate Sachnowitz of San Antonio, TX.

He will be greatly missed and forever remembered.