George Vlases

Dr. George C. Vlases died Wednesday, August 8th, after a severe stroke a week earlier. He is survived by his wife, Marcia Ellison, children Jenny, Bill, Michael and Theresa, and his grandchildren Nicholas, Elena, Claire, Chloe, Ursula and Luke. A private family memorial service was held.

George Charpentier Vlases was born October 22nd, 1936 to his parents George Jr. and Helen in Manhattan. He grew up with a younger sister, Andrea. He spent his childhood on the East Coast, ran cross country in high school, and then joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity while attending Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated with honors. He married his first wife, Billie-Mae Gill, in Westminster, Maryland, and they moved to California for George to attend graduate school at Cal Tech, where he received his doctorate degree in 5 years and met several of his lifelong friends. Post-doctorate work took him to Boulder, Colorado, where Jenny and Bill were born. A year in Munich, Germany was next, where George researched at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Following that, the family moved to Seattle where George became a professor at the University of Washington. Michael was born in Seattle, which remained George’s primary home.

George split time performing research sponsored by the US Department of Energy, educating college students, consulting for Mathematical Sciences Northwest, and spending time hiking, skiing and sailing with his family. George and Billie divorced in 1983. Later, George married Brigitta Eichlseder. They had a daughter, Theresa, then moved to England for nine years while George continued his research toward making nuclear fusion a viable energy resource for our world’s future. George, Brigitta and Theresa then returned to Seattle. Brigitta passed away in 2001 following a long battle with breast cancer.

In 2002, George met Marcia while living at Trilogy in Redmond, and they married in 2007. George gained new family with Marcia’s daughter Michelle, her husband, Randy; and their two sons Gabriel and Jeffrey. George continued his fusion research with Alan Hoffman on a part-time basis at the Redmond Plasma Physics Laboratory until 2011, at which point he fully retired to spend more time in his new winter home in Arizona, visit with his extended family, play golf with his friends, and drive around the country in his motor home.

George will be remembered as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend. His level-headedness, wisdom, tact and sense of humor were qualities we all admired in him and hope to pass on to our next generations. He was truly a “gentle soul”; humble, honest, kind, generous, and compassionate. We will miss him greatly and cherish the time we had together and our many wonderful memories.

No flowers or gifts please, but a contribution to one of the charities George gave time and money to would be appropriate:

http://www.drinks4drinks.com/

https://www.mercycorps.org/

http://www.heifer.org/

http://www.smiletrain.org/

http://saras-sanctuary.org/