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Pierre Portmann Obituary
A former resident of Bethesda, MD and Los Alamos, NM, died May 27, 2002 at Hospice of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, FL. He was retired aerospace engineer, a member IEEE and an amateur radio operator, W3RGX. He is survived by his sons, Bruce M. Portmann of North Hollywood, CA, P. Brian Portmann of Jupiter, FL and a daughter, Claire J. Portmann of Knoxville, MD. He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara S. Portmann. A memorial mass will be said at Holy Cross Church, Garrett Park, MD on Thursday, June 27 at 10:00 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to your local Alzheimer's Association.
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Memories and Condolences
for Pierre Portmann
1 Entry
Claire Portmann
June 28, 2002
My Dad
Pierre was born in Berne, Switzerland and immigrated to the US when he was six years old. He was raised in Flushing, NY. In his early teens, he developed a love of radios and their signals. He graduated from MIT, married Barbara Straub and went to work in a field he loved (what became aerospace communications). I tended to think of him as a lovable egghead. After all, he was an engineer.
It seemed to me that he truly has a grasp of higher mathematics far beyond the norm. Growing up my brothers or I could not go to him for help with our homework with out him trying to get us to understand sine & cosign. This was when we were only trying to complete an assignment in advanced arithmetic. But he was there to teach us that if we wanted. He was the guy who checked computer output and corrected their inaccuracies. But he once told me, when he did asthmatic in his head, he still did it in his native tongue, French.
But having been thinking on the vignettes that make up my memories of this gentle, patient man, I realized, yes he was an intellectual, but never enthroned in an ivory tower. But, he is so much more. And many ways he was ahead of the times.
He was health conscious:
He quit smoking, years before the Surgeon General issued their cancer connection warnings.
When I was in my early teens, I couldn’t believe I had a father who ate YOGURT!, This was long before it became a staple in the dairy aisle. Not only did he eat it, he MADE his own!! He ate other strange things like wheat germ and lecithin. And even though we poked fun at him for it, he would just take it and go on his own way, doing what he thought was best.
He was athletic. Maybe not to look at him, but he was always physically active.
He was the dad in the pool, playing with the kids then diving and swimming laps when it was “adult swim” time. He worked out in the basement, jogging and lifting weights. Once again, long before it was the thing to do. He enjoyed the annual trips to the Poconos, for the fellowship of friends, but also because it meant he would be able to go skiing. And, as it turned out, he loved to dance.
He was adventurous:
When he wanted to see Janis Joplin or the band Traffic, he took me along with him. He being the one to jump the waist high fence at Merriweather Post Pavilion to get us closer to the stage.
He tool job assignments that took him to new and difference places: Arizona, Texas, California, Indonesia, Los Alamos, NM and a number of places I probably never knew about and/or cannot remember now.
There is so much I would love to tell you about him. And there is so much about him I don’t know that you do. Please, remember him and keep him in your hearts.
Well, he is now on a new adventure and I hope it is a great one. But, I will miss you, Mein Pere.
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