Bernard Melvin Loth

Bernie is survived by his children & grandchildren: Rachel (Travis) Williams and their children Madison & Morgan Williams; Aaron Hill (Jennifer Meyers) and their children Sean & Nicole Hill; Randy (Kevin) Ide, Byer (Kathe) Hill and their children Matthew & Alexis Hill & Braxton Sizemore; Roger (Ilona) Loth and their children Jessica & Jason Loth; brother Isadore (Runa) Loth & his companion for over the last 21 years Barbara Franklin.

Bernie was born on December 11, 1935 in New York to Samuel and Tessie Loth. He spent his childhood in NY and moved out to California as soon as he graduated college from the University of the City of New York with a BA in Electrical Engineering. He married & divorced twice (Darlene Ide, Cathy Loth) and raised their children in California.

Bernie was an electrical engineer and earned his Masters in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University. Throughout his career as an Electrical Engineer and Manager he held positions of increasing responsibilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Peco Controls Corporation, Bio Rad Laboratories, and Varian Medical Systems Inc.. At home he liked to fix things himself, especially fixing up his Mustang convertible over many years with the boys.

When his children were growing up, Bernie enjoyed camping trips with his boys and Yosemite National Park was always a favorite camping and hiking destination. Bernie loved nature, observing animals in their natural habitats, and beautiful views from mountains to valleys to deserts and the seas.

After he retired he moved to a retirement community, The Villages, in San Jose. There he really enjoyed his weekly hikes with his Rambler hiking group and enjoyed celebrations with the Jewish group at the Villages. He and Barbara enjoyed going to the theater, concerts, & lectures and they volunteered at Theater Works pouring wine for opening night for several years. His favorite retirement past time was traveling. Bernie and Barbara spent 18 years traveling the world and hit almost all of his bucket list destinations. Their final trip in January 2020 was to Norway where they saw the northern lights. Between their travels Bernie made sure to make time for his grandkids, visiting the kids in North Carolina, stopping in Germany during his travels, and cheer competitions for the granddaughters in California.

Bernie had a massive stroke in February 2020 and went to live with his daughter Rachel and her family for the last 4 years of his life. While unable to gain his independence he was still able to enjoy his favorite foods, visit with family, have a front row seat to Madison and Morgan growing up, attend basketball games and watch Madison cheer, watched Morgans 8th grade graduation, and have many laugh until we cried moments.

He will be deeply missed by all that knew and loved him. A family celebration of life will be planned for July 2024.

Please do share pictures and memories, the family would love to see them.