I worked with George at General Electric in Syracuse, NY on the "Talaria" program from 1982 to 1990. Although Geo. was a "HAM", I did not appreciate his hobby or expertise during those years in Syracuse.
George lived with his wife, Marge in Tucson, AZ at the time of his death. George was full of life and Marge wants everyone to know that he died happy and pursuing a fun activity. He was waterskiing with his children and died from complications of a seemingly minor mishap that resulted in a moving bloodclot. He was 75.
We both worked on UHV (Ultra High Vacuum) systems at GE and George was an unequalled master designer, practitioner and teacher of vacuum science. I owe a personal indebtedness to George for all he taught me about UHV systems. He developed and maintained a critical process in which 400A of In2Ox (Indium Oxide which is non conductive) was thermally evaporated onto a borosilicate glass optical surface and then thermally annealed to create a 50 Ohm/sq. resistance for an electron beam bleed. (7.6 KV Light Valve System). (Most people would think of using ITO (In2SbO) but this application precluded the tin component).
George used to joke with young engineers about "condensed vacuum". He posited to these impressionable engineers that if one could condense vacuum in a container, the container could be opened (in space with radio) to absorb the blast energy of destroyed ICBM's with a 'Star Wars' type anti missle system. He would send them off for "skyhooks" and "shoreline" too.
Critical of non technical managers, George had a saying that seems to ring true in many cases: "They spend their time and energy stomping on cockroaches while Lions roam the halls!".
George was great man, colleague and teacher.
Reg Parker