LAWRENCE LARRY BERG Lawrence Larry Berg passed away on June 11, 2012 at the age of 96. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 7, 1916.
He graduated from The City College of New York in 1938 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. For the duration of World War II he was employed as an engineer for the War Department. In 1955 he married his loving and beautiful wife, Rhoda, and soon thereafter, moved to Mt. Hamilton, California, where he was employed as Chief Engineer of Lick Observatory, University of California, the second largest astronomical observatory in the world at that time. Eight years later, he and his wife moved to Tuscon, Arizona where he was employed as Chief Engineer of Steward Observatory, University of Arizona to oversee the installation of the 90-inch telescope at Kitt Peak. In 1978 he and his wife came to Richland, and in 1985 he retired from Kaiser Engineers Hanford. During that time, having owned his own airplane, he spent many hours flying all over the western states from Alaska to New Mexico. He was a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol and served as Commander of the Tri-Cities Composite Squadron for a number of years. He participated in a number of air searches for downed planes. In 1990 he went to work for SCM Consultants and Engineers, and finally stopped working in 1996.
Larry enjoyed traveling and took trips to New Zealand, England, Israel, and cruises to Alaska, Russia, Greece, and Turkey. Larry was an ardent student of Shakespeare and often quoted passages he was particularly fond of. One such passage was: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in its petty pace from day to day far into the annals of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted ways to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who frets and struts his hour upon the stage and then is seen no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." He is survived by his wife Rhoda Berg; nieces Diane Katofsky of California and Ann Friefeld and her husband Bert Friefeld of New York; great-nieces Dana Katofsky McCarthy of California, Salyna Gracie and her husband Reed and their daughter Amaya of Washington, Karen Abusch and her sons Maleek and Ibrahim Abusch Mansalay of Washington; great-nephews Jay Katofsky of California and Steven Abusch of New York.