Emil Leonard Svensson of Elkridge died on July 13 while under hospice care at Baltimore Washington Hospital. Born February 9, 1932, in Jamaica, New York to Aina and Karl Svensson, he is survived by his wife Shin Ja and children Len (Ann), Gail (Frank Graff), Craig (Sue), Scott (Becky), and Brett (Bill), as well as 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. The son of immigrants who took his parents dream for a new life and challenge to the moon. No really, to the moon.
Len saw his family lose their home in the Great Depression, but fight back, financially, and buy it back. He took buses and subways so he could accept the offer of an education at City College of New York that prepared him for engineering.
At 19, Len met Teresa Nugent and convinced his parents that he could get his college education while starting life as a newlywed and in 1951 they married. The U.S. Army had other plans and sent Private Svensson to El Paso, Texas. The army recognized that bright brain and offered Len an alternative to Korea. He taught officers at the Nike Guided Missile School in El Paso.
After his service to the Army, Len and Terry moved to Maryland to complete his education at Johns Hopkins and begin a 40 year career as an engineer at Westinghouse in Linthicum. Timing is everything, as Len began his career the US was beginning the Space Race and Westinghouse wanted to be part of bringing that race directly to your living room. Len worked on early designs of small cameras which led to his work on the design team for the Lunar Camera built by Westinghouse.
The Lunar Camera was a huge highlight of Len’s career. He was co-designer of the camera and taught NASA astronauts how to use that camera once they landed on the moon. When Apollo 11 launched, you might have expected to find Len at the Kennedy Space Center, the Johnson Space Center or on the Navy boat that retrieved those astronauts. But Len had a family camping trip planned….and family came first.
Len’s children remember where they were as the world watched those first steps taken on the moon. They were with their dad, at a campground on Cape Cod with one of the first TV’s that could plug into a car battery! They had their own hero right here on earth.
Len worked on many other defense system contracts with Westinghouse - many other electronic systems to be proud of. But it is that Lunar Camera and the excitement in their dad’s eyes that his children remember! They also remember how he taught them to chop wood for the fire, dig a trench around a tent so the rain would run off the tent (not inside), catch and hit a baseball, and study hard to become whoever they wanted to become.
After Terry’s death in 1992, Len found two new loves. Two new loves that he joined together: Golf and Shin Ja. For the past two decades if you wanted to find Len and his wife Shin it was best to check the golf course. While Len introduced Shin to this new sport, Shin was Len’s constant companion, the love of his life and for the past few years his most loving caretaker. Their travels took them to the golf courses of the east coast, the shores of Alaska and the mountains of South Korea. Len’s children could not have asked for a more caring wife for their dad.
Family and friends are invited to gather at the Gary L. Kaufman Funeral Home at Meadowridge Memorial Park, Inc., 7250 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, MD 21075 on Thursday, July 16, 2020 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. A graveside service will be held on Friday, July 17, 2020 at 10:30am at Crest Lawn Memorial Gardens, 2150 Mt View Road, Marriotsville, MD 21104. A link to the livestream of the service will be made available on Friday at 10:30am.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.garylkaufmanfuneralhome.com for the Svensson family.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18