Phillip A Yates

Phillip (Phil) Andrew Yates of Glendora was born September 14, 1960 and passed away from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2025 at the age of 65. Phil was born in San Gabriel and lived in Los Angeles County all of his life except for his five years in the U.S. Air Force where he was stationed in Denver, Colorado and in Oahu, Hawaii. He was preceded in death by his parents: John and Darlene Yates as well as his older brother John. Phil is survived by his wife of 39 years Dominique, and his children Jeremy (Jeanette, James, Mark (Patricia), and April (Samuel) as well as his six grandchildren: Makayla, Bryce, Ryan, Tyler, Dylan, and Margo. Phil was employed for over 30 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) a research and development center in La Canada Flintridge which was founded by Caltech and is now owned and sponsored by NASA. Phil loved Science and History. Working on Spacecraft or projects for the International Space Station and on the Mars rovers were all very exciting to him. He held the title of Engineering Specialist V, he was an electronic ground support equipment (EGS) lead, an integration and test (I&T) lead, and a subject matter expert (SME) on many projects. More importantly, he was a mentor to many engineers at JPL over the years. While Phil really enjoyed his work, he truly loved his family. Family was very important to him. He loved spending time with them hiking and camping and of course at the Big Bear cabin. He volunteered and was involved in his sons' Boy Scout Troops. He loved anything outdoors especially being in the mountains as Big Bear was his favorite place to be. Phil also had a love for classic cars and enjoyed attending various car shows and swap meets. He spent a lot of time working on cars and teaching his kids how to maintain them. He would call it bonding time. Phil was a generous, loving man with a great sense of humor. His earthly journey is over but his reunion with those who passed before him has just begun. He will be missed for sure!