All,
Pete Hoover is one of those people who changed the way this young engineer (at the time) looked at the world. I will always be gateful for the really significant assistance he gave to AMSAT and for the "yes we can" attitude he always displayed whenever I was in his presence. He will be missed by many and I am one of them.
Jan W3GEY
-------------------------------------- On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 4:54 AM, Tom Clark, K3IO tom.k3io@gmail.com wrote:
It is with much sadness that AMSAT notes the passing on Feb.4 of Herbert "Pete" Hoover III, W6ZH at his home in San Marino, CA. Pete was the grandson of former President Herbert Hoover. Pete's W6ZH call was inherited from his father who served as ARRL President; Pete's original call was W6APW. He was AMSAT Life Member #65.
In the 1970's, Pete and Bill Eitel (W6UF) saw that AMSAT and amateur satellites were a significant wave of amateur radio's future. In addition to making substantial contributions, they worked with the ARRL to form the ARRL Foundation in 1976. Beginning in 1978 Pete served on the ARRL Long Range Planning Committee.
I remember the hospitality Pete and his wife Meridith showed to Jan King (W3GET) and me on several occasions when we dropped by his home in San Marino to discuss AMSAT's future.
Pete was always very active in the American Red Cross. When the Pacsat concept was being developed, Harold Price (NK6K) and I called on Pete at the Hoover Foundation offices to discuss the concept of a store-and-forward messaging satellite to provide medical communications to a remote area. At Pete's instigation, we began working with VITA (Volunteers in Technical Assistance) and our Pacsat concept bore fruit when UoSAT-3 was re-badged as Healthsat-1 (see http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/healthsat-2.htm).
I last saw Pete at Dayton two years ago. I was in the chow line when I heard a "Hey Tom" from a nearby table. Pete was spending most of his time at his retirement home on Maui and he looked very fit and had an incredible tan! While I was munching on a hamburger we has a great face-to-face QSO. He told me that he was still on the air, now using an Elecraft radio.
I'll miss Pete's enthusiasm and friendship. I could always count on his thoughtful advice.
73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI
Additional details on Pete can be found on the ARRL web site at http://www.arrl.org/?artid=9426 and in this week's ARRL newsletter (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2010-02-11). _______________________________________________ Via the Advisors mailing list at AMSAT.ORG http://amsat.org/ courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/advisors