David George Koch

David George Koch, age 97, died on Wednesday night, December 27, 2017, just before midnight at his home at 9650 Vanalden Ave., Northridge, California 91324 with his son, Steven and Daughter-in-law Lourdes.

David was born August 26, 1920 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on the western shore of Lake Michigan, to Erwin Robert "Perk" Koch and Renatta (Treager) Koch. He had two younger sisters, Dawn (Baldree) and Ruth (Zarr). Ruth died in Aug. 11, 2000 and Dawn on October 18, 2017.

David graduated from Lincoln High School in Manitowoc in 1937, and then from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1942; with a degree in Electrical engineering. David accepted a job offer from RCA (Radio Corporation of America) before finishing his senior year at university, and went to work for RCA in Newark, New Jersey immediately after graduation.

On August 12, 1944, David married his high school sweetheart, Jeanette Rose (Roeder) Koch in a small ceremony in New Jersey. She had graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison one term after David; and after a year of teaching grade school in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin; David convinced her to follow him to New Jersey.

At RCA, he worked on radar to support the United States war effort. But he felt his technical contribution was not enough and wanted to do more; so he also enlisted in the National Guard, where he was assigned to a cavalry regiment (yes, riding horses and training to repulse a possible invasion of the United States by Nazi forces).

After the end of World War II, David continued to work for RCA until 1961, gradually evolving from the technical design area to become a sales engineer in the marketing department; working for James Cooper, who became a life-long friend, and along with his wife, became "Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue to David's sons.

Both David and Jeanette love nature and travelling, so they would take the boys camping on the way to visit relatives in Wisconsin from New Jersey. Steven was just about 6mos old when he did his first camping.

In 1961, David was recruited by Litton Industries of San Carlos, California. He was happy with his job at RCA, and with the people he worked with there, especially his boss, James Cooper. But the people at Litton were persistent and kept raising their offering. Finally, he and Jeanette went to California to investigate, and came back having bought a house in Los Altos, and planning to move in only a few weeks, just in time for their two sons to start the new school year.

The Director of Marketing job at Litton was challenging and interesting, but David later described it as daily having about 100 things you could follow up on, but having only enough time for about two of them. After a few years of this, David decided the stress was too much. He left Litton. RCA offered him a job that let his family stay in their house and schools in Los Altos, and he took that. David love to dance and It is here where they met a friend who suggested that they try to do Square dancing.

David continued to work for RCA in Los Altos until 1974, when he was offered a promotion if he moved to their southern California office, which he did. By this time the sons were off at college. David and Jeanette bought a house in Northridge, CA, where they lived for the rest of their lives. A few days after they moved in, they immediately came to Northridge United Methodist Church as a friend from the Bay area who used to go to this church, suggested.

In 1978, David retired from RCA, and lived a life of leisure for several months, before taking a position as a Manufacturer's Rep. with Dave Frost, Inc. He visited companies, mainly manufacturing firms, and proposed solutions to various problems they had. He finally retired for good after 5 years with Frost in 1982. After retiring, he and Jeanette continued travelling and camping and met wonderful people who became their good friends. By this time, David got an RV and enjoyed camping with friends to dances with different Square dancing clubs (a total of 35years) and became members to 7 different Square dance clubs in San Fernando Valley including the Valley Trailers. They also met a especially nice couple, Bob & Shirley Graham, who became their travelling companions to Europe, Asia and South America. Jeanette passed away in April 25, 2009 after meeting her only grandson for only a few months. David continued camping with Steven and his family until he turned 97 year old.

Survivors include his sons, Richard and Steven, Daughter-in-law Lourdes, and grandson, Coriolis.

A cremation will be performed on Jan15 at Pierce Brothers Valhalla in North Hollywood, California. A memorial service will be held at 1PM on Sunday, January 14, 2018 at the Northridge United Methodist Church, where David and Jeanette had been members since moving to southern California in 1974.