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George Aristotle Economou, 79, born June 24, 1923 in Manchester NH, died April 2, 2003 in Fox Chapel, PA, after a long bout with lung cancer. An optics prodigy offered Harvard attendance at the age of 14, for building a Schmidt telescope, attending at age 16. The son of the late Evangelina Demolat and George Aristotle Economou was later drafted during WWII into the US Army with the rank of Sergeant during his senior year at Harvard and sent to work with the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, NM. His employment continued with Sandia Laboratories, Perkin Elmer (Mercury Project), J. W. Fecker Division of Owens-Corning, and retiring as Vice President of Optical Instrumentation at Contraves, USA. An emeritus lifetime member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), his photo of the moon, published as the cover of Time Magazine, was a tribute to his improvements in optical clarity. His sisters, Sia Packard of Albuquerque and Zoe Kanteres, preceded him in death, as did two wives. Survivors include his wife, Nancy L. Economou; three sons, James and William Economou of Albuquerque and George A. Economou Jr. of Cambridge, MA; a daughter, Zoe Stephenson of Albuquerque; and numerous nephews and nieces. Private Funeral arrangements were made with the Thomas M. Smith Funeral Home and Crematory, Blawnox, PA. George always spoke with great fondness for the lifelong friends he made in NM during WWII. Memorial contributions can be made to the donor's charity of choice or to Foxwall Emergency Services Inc., 403 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh PA 15238. His brilliance could blind him to our love.
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