Richard Donald Krobusek

He was born January 13th, 1942 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Joseph and Estelle Krobusek. The youngest son of a WWI and WWII US Navy veteran, he grew up in Danbury, CT, where he loved to fish with his older brothers, play guitar and banjo, was an active member of the rifle team.

He loved Chemistry, including experimenting with the remains of a chemistry set left behind by one of his much older brothers. One of his experiments went according to his plan, and exploded in the basement, leaving a permanent scar on his thumb, and surely exasperation by his mother!

His father was a Pharmacist Mate in the Navy during WWI and WWII. His oldest brother Joseph, 15 years his senior was a Merchant Marine who served in WWII. His other brother, Thomas, 13 years older was a Navy Seabee, serving in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. His father wanted him to attend a service academy, preferably Navy, but Richard wanted to fly airplanes. He attended the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO and graduated in 1964, becoming the first in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree and to be a commissioned officer. Richard has shared his military highlights on the US Air Force Academy website which can be found at www.usafaclasses.org/1964/Krobusek_Richard/history.htm

Richard enjoyed a 21+ year career in the USAF. As an eager young pilot, he flew as many hours as they would allow. Among the planes he flew were: T-37, T-33A, C-47, T-28A, T-28Ds (on loan from the Navy), and KC-135A. This included multiple tours in Vietnam between 1968-1969. During R&R to Sydney, Australia, he met Margueritte at a party. She was a nurse and had just gotten off her shift, arriving late to the party. They spent 10 days together over a four-month period, with Richard returning to Sydney from Vietnam. Then Richard called her from Hong Kong, asking her ring size. She did not quite realize he was asking her to marry him! They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in March.

Richard earned his Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, was the member of a three-officer team that designed and built a Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle (a forerunner to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles used today) at the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory at the Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. He developed cutting edge structural and aerodynamic computer programs which were the predecessors of today’s pilot simulators.

When Richard retired from the United States Air Force in 1985, he had a perfect segue into a position with Texas Instruments becoming the Program Manager of Pilot’s Associate application project, which was a demonstration of AI applied to fighter aircraft. It was designed to assist aircraft commanders in all cockpit decision-making and planning that could be augmented by sensors and the modern computing of the time.

Richard was fortunate to have been able to spend his latter career working in Research and Development. His various experiences led him to a law firm specializing in patents. He became a contract patent technical writer and had the opportunity to become a Registered Patent Agent. He passed the Patent Bar Exam on his first try, though self-study. He loved the complexity of learning new ideas and researching what was necessary to do his job. He has three registered patents to his name.

Richard was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Estelle Krobusek, his brothers Joseph Jr. and Thomas, and his sister Estelle Mae Hazel. He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Margueritte; daughter Diane Perez (Balthazar), Cypress, TX; son Derrick Krobusek (Natalie), Austin, TX, and 3 grandchildren Myria Perez, Cleo Perez and Joseph Edward Krobusek.

In lieu of flowers, the family would like personal stories in any format, or that donations be made in Richard’s memory to the Parkinson’s Foundation or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.