Jan. 14, 1941 – Nov. 24, 2012

Kenneth Meade Lakin died at his home near Redmond, OR, Nov. 24, 2012, after an extended battle with prostate cancer. He was born January 14, 1941, in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Mabel (Meade) and Harold Lakin. Ken grew up in Portland, MI, and graduated from the Univ. of Michigan with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and received his PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford Univ. in 1969.

Dr. Lakin was a faculty member at the Univ. of Southern California from 1969 to 1980, where he conducted research on surface acoustic wave devices, thin film resonators, and piezoelectric film growth and characterization. From 1980 to 1989, he was affiliated with Iowa State Universitys Ames Laboratory and founded the Microelectronics Research Center. He formed TFR Technologies in 1989 and acted as President and CEO while conducting research on thin film resonators, piezoelectric materials, filters, planar dielectric resonators, and numerical analysis of electromechanical resonators for microwave frequencies. Ken retired from TFR Technologies in 2005. He published more than 100 technical papers and has 21 U.S. patents in the areas of acoustic signal processing devices and materials research. Ken was a Life Fellow of the IEEE and received the W. G. Cady award in 2003. In 2010, he was the recipient of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society Achievement Award for ”his pioneering work on aluminum nitride (AlN), AlN for Bulk Acoustic Wave devices (BAW) and being first to develop Solidly Mounted Resonators (SMR-BAW) and coupled resonator filters for BAW.”

Ken was an avid outdoorsman enjoying backpacking, camping and wilderness exploration. He collected and restored vintage radios and was an amateur radio enthusiast (KD6B) since childhood. His friends and family will miss his sense of humor, his generosity and his ”Google-like” encyclopedia of knowledge.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Janet (Grieshaber); son, Kurt of Des Moines, IA; daughter, Kristy of Portland, OR; brothers, Jim (Janet) of Portland, MI, Roger (Carol) of Belding, MI; brother-in-law, Robert (Patti) of Elkhart, KS; numerous nieces and nephews; and a loving group of supportive friends.

A gathering of friends and family will be Jan. 12 in Portland, Michigan, time and place to be determined. www.redmondmemorial.com

Contributions may be made to the Save the Redwoods League or Deschutes Land Trust.