David Mayne Griswold

Born June 17th, 1928 in Cortland, New York to the Rev. Dr. Clayton T. Griswold and Miriam Rittenhouse Mayne, his family moved to Hobart in 1930 and Watkins Glen in 1935, just in time for the great flood.

In 1939, at the age of eleven, David moved to Summit, New Jersey where he was a teenage air-raid warden during World War II; graduated Summit High, enlisted in the Navy and soloed his first aircraft, all in 1946 and trained as a midshipman in the Navy V-5 flying program, flying a Navy SNJ at Pensacola.

David attended Hobart College in Auburn, New York; Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and was a graduate of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, receiving a B.A. in Economics in 1951.

David married Jane Kramer on June 10th, 1950. They first met in the 7th grade home room for band and orchestra members. They remained together in the same home room for the next six years until graduation. He played cornet and she played clarinet. But it was not until Christmas leave from the Navy in 1948 while attending church, dressed in his Navy whites, that David finally captured Jane’s heart.

David and Jane resided in New Providence, New Jersey from 1951 until 1971, moving to Woodland Hills, California to pursue a transfer opportunity with RCA.

David was hired as a test engineer by RCA Corporation’s Electron Tube Division in Harrison, New Jersey in 1951. In 1953, he transferred to the newly formed RCA Semiconductor Division in Somerville, New Jersey, holding various engineering positions from 1958-1961.

In 1962, David played a key role in RCA’s development of the Field-Effect Transistor. He then traveled the country for RCA, in 1964, giving technical seminars on the newly developed Field Effect Transistor, authored numerous articles, received the IEEE Chicago Conference, Best Paper award in 1965, co-authored a book, “Field-Effect Transistors, Physics, Technology and Applications” published in 1966 by Prentice-Hall, and was awarded U.S. Patent No. 3,540,925, Ion Bombardment of Insulated Gate Semiconductor Devices.

David was chosen as the U.S. delegate for RCA at the IEC (International Electro-Technical Commission) annual conference in Padua, Italy in 1967 and London, England in 1968.

David transferred to RCA’s Hollywood, California office in 1971, holding marketing and sales positions, and rising to Manager of RCA’s Solid State Division Government Market Development for the Western Region of the United States, working later in the Sherman Oaks office, as well, before retiring from RCA in 1985 when his signature was shrunk by his long-time customer Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, California onto a micro-dot which flew to Jupiter aboard the Galileo spacecraft.

David and Jane moved back east to Oneonta in 1988, after retirement, to be near their summer cabin on a lake nearby where David spent summers since 1928 and which Jane first visited in 1949.

David traveled more than 500,000 miles by commercial airlines, but treasured most his family trips, including a 5-week cross-country tour in 1966, Canada in 1967, the Pacific Northwest in 1972, rafting down the Colorado River with his beloved wife in 1974 and Alaska in 1978.

David was a life member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers as well as Secretary and President of the Mayne Educational Fund. He was a long-time member of the local Oneonta Macintosh User Group MUG-ONE.

David also worked on Mary S. Briggs’ book, “Davenport, Fact and Fancy, The Story of One Small Town in Delaware County, NY,” as Map and Photo Editor.

David is survived by his beloved wife of sixty-seven years, Jane; sisters, Maud Mary Bishop of Hackettstown, New Jersey, Katharine Griswold of Louisville, Kentucky; sons, Paul, of Oneonta, and his daughter Jennie (Rodney) Atienza and children Maggie and Matteo of Narberth, Pennsylvania; Mark (Clarice), of Oneonta, and daughter Felicia Applegate (David) and children Abigail, Eliana and Shoshana of Fayetteville, North Carolina; Jeffrey, of Oneonta; Russell (Kim), of Oneonta, and children Maria, Isabel and step-grandsons Trevor and Wyatt Ambrose; as well as many cousins, relatives and special friends.

David was predeceased by his brother and sister-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Lincoln T. and Dr. Jean Coglan Griswold.

A memorial service will be held in the summer of 2018 and burial will be in the Davenport Cemetery family plot.

Memorial donations may be made to the Planetary Society, 60 South Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101 or an organization of your choice.

To light a candle or send an online condolence please visit www.bookhoutfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangements are by the Bookhout Funeral Home, Oneonta.