Contributions to the tribute of Lawrence Schwartz

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

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Robyn Mayer posted a condolence

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Larry was a wonderful grandfather to my children and friend for life to me. He has been family since I married his son, Daran, in 1979, as did Cherie. I remember attending their wedding while pregnant with Daran and my first son, Zakaria, who also remembers attending the wedding! Together, Larry and Cherie built a legacy of love and respect for their grandchildren, Zak, Lucy and Aaron. He and Cherie have been such devoted supporters of their grandchildren's dreams, and helped many of them come true. They helped Zak with his education and with his screenwriting dreams. They helped Lucy travel to Asia, which she now calls home. They helped Aaron become the compassionate, faithful, strong, honest and industrious man he is today. Larry was the most notorious punster I've ever met, and so he will forever make us laugh! He was brilliant, full of great stories, and always fun-loving. We had many great outings to museums, the mountains, great restaurants and many joyous holidays, seders and games at the Schwartz home. I feel honored to have known Larry and to have such a catalog of memories of him that will last forever.

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Kevin Souza posted a condolence

Friday, November 27, 2015

Larry Schwartz spoke the language of the Celestial Spheres. His work in orbital reconstruction and prediction came at the time when mankind was reaching off of Planet Earth and sending man made sentinels into space. From his Doctoral Thesis at UCLA “Approximate continuous nonlinear minimal-variance filtering” (published in 1966) through other work published while at Hughes Aircraft during the 1960s and 1970s, Larry laid out the math and processing necessary for what today has become a series of Kahlman filters that are used by satellite programs such as GPS to accurately predict the motions of multiple inter-related orbiting objects. But Larry was not only a theoretician. He insisted that his ideas be translated into practical applications that could “Do something useful”. He inherited a crude orbital reconstruction program from Aerospace Corporation (that had been authored by Chuck Tonies amongst others) called TRACE and adopted it for use in various satellite programs while at Hughes and Raytheon. This set of code modules continues in use today and has become the standard against which alternative algorithms and processing schemes are bench marked. Larry took his love of the order of mathematics and the structure of computer programming and combined then with his love of the English pun. Larry’s plays on words were a standard part of any conversation with him. He is the only person that I know who could actually do mathematically related puns! He touched many people during his decades on planet Earth. His fellow academicians, his co-workers at Hughes and Raytheon, his family, his church and millions of people who benefit from his work and don’t even realize it. The next time you land safely in a commercial airliner at your destination, or punch in the address of the Wild Oats into your Garmin GPS system to guide your drive there, remember that without Larry, none of that would be possible. A lot of the math that Larry employed has been attributed to the Astronomer, Johannes Kepler. I think that in a former life, Larry was Kepler’s roommate at University. Larry figured out the math and Kepler published the results and got all of the credit. But that was OK by Larry. He did not crave the fame or notoriety; he just wanted it to “Do something useful”. Rest in peace Larry - Mission accomplished.

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Al Fermelia lit a candle

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Larry was always a willing mentor and will be greatly missed by all of us who were privileged to know him. Hopefully our collected grief will reduce that of his closest loved ones especially Cherie

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Cathy Harper posted a condolence

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

My condolences. Larry was a dear friend, and co-worker at Raytheon. His brilliant mind always engaged. His heart was full, especially for his family, whom he spoke of often, including the loss of his two children. Larry would always stop by my desk every single day, and he enlightened me with worldly information. I learned a great deal from him. His love for all things Greek was apparent, and he always encouraged me to attend Denver's Greek Festival each year. I'm from San Diego, California. Larry and I would share stories about Southern California, and his life, at the time, in Malibu. When he retired, I happened by his empty office, and I felt the stillness of him being gone. I did, however, find comfort in running into him (and often) at Whole Foods grocery store, where we would catch-up. He left a great legacy in aerospace. We are grateful, and especially to have known him.

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Paul Pontius lit a candle

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Our hearts go out to you Cherie and family. Larry is a truly great man who will be dearly missed. A mentor and teacher to so many... a blessing to all.

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Jana Shaw lit a candle

Monday, November 23, 2015

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Jana Shaw posted a condolence

Monday, November 23, 2015

My most sincere sympathy to you and your family, Cherie. Larry was a tremendous man and he will be sadly missed by all of us that worked with him at Hughes/Raytheon.

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The family of Lawrence Schwartz uploaded a photo

Monday, November 23, 2015

Lawrence Schwartz

1935 - 2015

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