Roland Svensson, WQ7P

Roland Svensson, of Redmond and formerly of Issaquah, died at home in Redmond on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. He was 70. A memorial service was Dec. 28 at Flintoft’s Issaquah Funeral Home. A reception followed.

Roland was born July 3, 1940, in Osby, Sweden, the son of Folke and Marta Svensson. He was raised in Osby and graduated from Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, with his master’s in electrical engineering. He served with the Swedish Navy for a year and a half, and then worked in Stockholm until he immigrated to Rochester, N.Y., to work as an electrical engineer for General Dynamics in 1968.

He married his wife Christine Lawson Svensson on Jan. 24, 1970. He and Chris relocated to San Diego with General Dynamics in 1970, and then moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where he worked for many years for several companies in his field of telecommunications.

He formed his own consulting business, moved to the Seattle area in July 1987 and worked for three small companies, the last being Wavetrace, of Bellevue. Harris Corp. bought his company and transferred him to Melbourne, Fla., where he finished his career, and then retired in July 2005, moving back to Washington.

Through the years, he loved sailing and sailed for many years in the San Francisco Bay, the Trans Pac Race and the Puget Sound, until he took up riding his beloved Harley. He continued his passion for riding his Harley, with wife riding sissy for years. He collected snuffboxes and enjoyed ham radio.

He was preceded in death by his parents Folke Svensson and Marta in the 1980s. Survivors include daughter Amanda Svensson, of San Jose, Calif.; son Jonas and daughter-in-law Julee Bottler Svensson; son Kristian (Kit) Svensson; sister Marianne Andersson, of Vallakra, Sweden; and brother Elon Svensson and sister-in-law Inger Svensson, of Sigtuna, Sweden. - Issaquah Press, January 4, 2011 (link)

I learned today of a friends passing. Roland Svensson (WQ7P) died of a massive heart attack over this last weekend. Roland was an early boss of mine, when I started out as a newly graduated electrical engineer at Racom, Tukwila, WA.

Roland seemed to posses an infinite wisdom regarding radio communication and especially analog filter design. I remember Roland helping me design and actually build a high order low pass filter for a graduate school project. The professor at the time seemed blown away that not only was the filter designed, but that I had it inside a cardboard box to actually plug in and test out. I remember the same professor giving a frowning look over at his graduate assistant who probably had tried making one or two before unsuccessfully.

I had the pleasure to work with Roland at a few more communication start-up companies afterward. I easily remember his smile after telling us a dirty joke or two. Roland did have a sense of humor but was always willing to help a know-it-all novice engineer. I remember asking him how long it will take to be a good RF/Microwave engineer. He said in my case, "The rest of your life."

We will miss you, you old fart. 73/88 - Gary Martek, W7DO, 12-21-2010 (link)