Lee Calhoun Pittenger
Lee Calhoun Pittenger died April 30. He was 85.
Pittenger attended Ripon College and Marquette University, graduating in 1959 with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. He entered the U.S. Army in 1959, serving for four years as an ordnance officer in Germany. He was a member of Theta Chi fraternity, Tau Beta Pi honorary engineering fraternity, and Scabbard and Blade honorary military society.
He joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1963 as a design engineer for the Sherwood program. In 1965, he was awarded an AEC Fellowship to pursue graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, graduating in 1971 as a doctor of science in nuclear engineering. From 1971 to 1973 he held a position as a lead experimenter at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. In 1973, he returned to LLNL as an energy systems engineer. From 1974 to 1976, he was the project mechanical engineer for the high voltage test stand. From 1976 to 1979 he served as the deputy project manager and LLNL group leader for the design and prototype construction of the Neutral Beam Injection Systems, major components of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. From 1979 to 1981 he was the project engineer for Vacuum Vessel Systems for LLNL’s Mirror Fusion Test Facility. He remained with LLNL, retiring in 2001.
He is survived by wife, Marietta, of 60 years along with their three children, Richard, Jennifer and Katherine; and their eight grandchildren, Madison, Taylor, Connor, Hanna, Emily, Brandon, Ethan, and Averie, and a brother, William.
Services will be held on May 13, at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church located at 1315 Lomitas Ave., Livermore. A vigil will be held at 9:30 a.m., followed by a funeral mass at 10 a.m. He will be laid to rest at the San Joaquin National Cemetery. A reception will take place at 4:30 p.m. at Zephyr Bar and Grill in Livermore.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Marines’ Memorial Association & Foundation.
