In Memory

Gerhard Roth - Class Of 1958

Gerhard Roth

Gerhard 'Gary' Roth

May 23, 1939 - September 20, 2021

Gary and his family moved from Germany to the USA when he was eight years old and settled in Southern California. Gary was always interested in learning, especially geography and later, civics. He also had a good understanding of math, enjoyed track and field, and playing his violin. Gary graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1958 and then entered the Army. After discharge, he earned a BS in Engineering and then continued in Computer Science, earning a degree from Cal Poly Pomona.

His first job was in St Paul, Minnesota at UNIVAC working with computers. He was recognized and called to a New Hampshire military base, learning and attending to large security machines. In New Hampshire, he bought a BMW motorcycle and drove it to Huntsville, Alabama, where he had a translation job translating German to English and English to German. This ability gave him the opportunity to serve in Ramstein and Schwabisch-Gemund, Germany. At the time he still had relatives in Germany, so Gary decided to stay and work for the film industry, SAG-AFTRA, learning about film and movie production with computers. Once back in California, Gary worked continuously for many aerospace companies that served NASA. He had the opportunity to be on the hand-picked group of engineers that worked with the Apollo 12 rocket program.

Gary met Brigita, who was visiting from Wisconsin, at a birthday party in Orange, California. After several years they married and after a year in California, they moved to Wisconsin due to Gary's severe allergies. They traveled extensively to many European countries, enjoying Iceland and its clean air, helpful people, the unusual countryside, and especially the geothermal pools. Another wonderful trip was to Croatia to visit Gary's cousin and family.

Gary's wonderful life ended in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He was true gentleman with great knowledge of many things. He was a caring, loving, and helpful man. Brigita misses him very much.

Brigita Roth