SAMUEL RABINOWITZ

1925 - 2021

Samuel Joshia Rabinowitz "Sam"  
Samuel "Sam" Joshia Rabinowitz, born May 23, 1925, died peacefully on August 29, 2021, at 96. He is survived by his children, Paula, Mark, and Leonard, from his first marriage to Shirley Wolf Rabinowitz; his grandsons, Aaron, Dmitri and Raphael Rabinowitz and Jacob Bernstein; his great-grandson, Ezra; his former wife, Stasia Janowska; and his partner, Joan Baquis. Born in Boston, MA to Israel and Eva Rabinowitz, who emigrated from Tetiev, Ukraine, almost a century ago, he grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, rising to become head of Project Defender of ARPA in the 1960s, where he observed the final above-ground hydrogen bomb test at Kwajalein Atoll. He served as NATO's highest ranking civilian in the 1980s. He was drafted into the Army Specialized Training Program in 1944 after studying Engineering at City College. After the war, he attended Johns Hopkins University, which awarded him a Doctorate in Engineering in 1956. A defense systems analyst, he developed radar systems for intercontinental ballistic missile defense at Bell Labs, Columbia University's Riverside Research Lab, MIT's Lincoln Lab, MITRE, RCA, Raytheon, and the Pentagon. A great raconteur, he loved bragging about his grandchildren to anyone who might listen and playing cribbage and Scrabble. He made strong coffee, dry martinis, sour pickles, and "world famous" matzo brei. He traveled extensively, marveling at his luck to be born in the United States. Memorial Services at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn to be arranged.