Harold Dean Dean Sayles

Jim was born in Stroh, Indiana, on December 26, 1932 to Berne Alton Sayles and Dorothy Iverne Graham Sayles. He is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 63 years, Elizabeth “Vetcha” Tomchak Sayles; his brother, Jerry Olin Sayles (Nancy); his children, Michael Berne Sayles (Bonnie), Debra Lynn Sayles Senchak (Dale), Douglas Jeffrey Sayles, and Thomas Gregory Sayles (Sarah); and his four grandchildren: Kevin, Catherine, Samuel and Skylar Sayles. He was preceded in death by his older brother, Dick Sayles.

While growing up in Albion, Michigan, Jim overcame a childhood bout of polio that instilled a strength and tenacity that served him throughout life. At Washington Gardner High School, he lettered in multiple sports, was quarterback and co-captain of the football team, and was popular among his classmates. He also spent long hours flipping burgers at The Royal Sandwich Shop, his family’s restaurant. After graduating in 1950, he enlisted and served three years in the United States Army, earned a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University on the G.I. Bill, and started a family.

Jim and Vetcha moved to Succasunna, New Jersey, in 1958. A quintessential family man, role model and respected member of the Roxbury Township community, Jim helped build and taught Sunday School at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, coached Little League for 25 years, and enjoyed attending his boys’ various sporting events and daughter’s ballet performances.

During his 40-year career as a signal processing and radar expert at Bell Laboratories, Jim worked on several landmark technology milestones, including the first electronic telecommunications satellite (Telstar), the first ICBM missile defense system, and the first commercial digital cellular telephone network (Can you hear me now?). In 1969, the family temporarily moved to the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands, where Jim and Vetcha developed lifelong friendships, Jim learned to scuba dive, and their youngest son was born.

The family returned to their New Jersey home in 1971, where Jim and Vetcha resided until retiring to North Carolina in 1999. Despite several health challenges, in his final years Jim continued to enjoy life in their beautiful Cornelius home overlooking Lake Norman.

Jim will be remembered as a dependable, soft-spoken man of the highest integrity.

For those wishing to send memorial gifts, please consider donating to the National Kidney Foundation at https://team.kidney.org/campaign/Jim-Sayles-Memorial-Fund.