Walter (Walt) Van Norman Goeddel's Obituary
Walter (Walt) Van Norman Goeddel, age 85, died in his home on September 5, 2012. He was born to Albert and Elida Goeddel on November 4, 1926, in San Diego, California and lived his entire life in southern California. Walt attended Herbert Hoover High and graduated from SDSU with a BS degree in Chemistry and from CalTech with an MS in Physical Chemistry. He began his professional career in 1950 as a Research Engineer at North American Aviation, moved to Solar Aircraft in 1953, then to General Atomic in 1957 where he worked for 29 years. He was Director of the GA Process Engineering Division when he retired in 1986. He held 19 U.S. patents, mainly related to nuclear reactor fuel particles. For the last three years he has been a volunteer at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Walt's many interests included family vacations to national parks, fishing, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, photography and landscaping. He especially enjoyed hiking with his family in the eastern Sierras, which he explored for more than 60 years. In 1944 he met the love of his life, Barbara Lou Haist. They married in 1946 and had 63 happy years together until her passing December, 2009. Walt is survived by son David and his wife Alena, son Peter and his wife Susan, daughter Lucinda, and son Mitch and his wife Wendy. He had eight grandchildren (Heather, Lance, Lauren, Sean, Erik, Stephen, Tyler and Melanie) and two great-grandchildren In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park CUB CAMP AT LION CAMP campaign.
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