Richard Bougetz

Richard Bougetz passed away peacefully surrounded by family and his beloved doggies on January 30, 2020. Richard was born into a large Polish American family in Minnesota, where as a youngster he enjoyed wrestling, boxing, and playing cowboy music on his guitar. He loved animals, especially horses, and worked on a ranch as a young man. Richard was on track to be a veterinarian when he was drafted into the Korean War. It was during this time while he was working on creating flight simulators that he became interested in the new field of computer science. Back in the States he studied math and physics at the University of Minnesota where he met his future wife Marie in an anthropology class. She apparently got his attention when she compared his profile to that of the Neanderthals they were studying. Before graduation, Richard was wooed away to sunny Southern California by the burgeoning aerospace industry, where he worked for System Development Corporation (SDC) in Santa Monica.

Richard lived in a groovy house in Malibu and remembered when they filmed the movie Gidget on the beach. Marie eventually followed him out, and they married in 1961 at St. Monica’s Catholic Church. Their daughter Susan was born in Minneapolis, but California’s balmy weather had seduced them and after a series of snowstorms, they returned to Los Angeles and never looked back. They settled in the West San Fernando Valley where Richard worked for various aerospace companies including Dynalectron, R.C.A., Litton, and finally Teledyne, from which he retired in the early 1990s. Richard kept busy throughout retirement by working on house projects, cooking vegetarian dishes for Marie, and of course, golfing with friends enthusiastically and often.

Richard and Marie were married for 52 years until her death in 2014. Richard is survived by his daughter Susan, her husband Brian, and their son Milo, who is following in his grandpa’s footsteps with studies in computer science and music. Richard was very much loved; and as the last of the original Bougetz clan, he will be missed by his numerous family members, friends, and all who knew him.

The funeral will be Saturday, February 8, at 1:00 p.m. at St. Bernardine of Siena Church, 24410 Calvert St., Woodland Hills, CA. 91367. 818 888-8200. For service information, go to https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/canoga-park-ca/richard-bougetz-9020487

Donations in Richard’s name may be made to the ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/.