Edward C. Hagerott

Ed Hagerott, a devoted Catholic, husband and father, passed away on January 16, 2010 at his home in Sierra Madre after a brave battle against lung cancer. He was 71. Ed was born in Bismarck, North Dakota and raised in nearby Mandan, where he developed his lifelong passions of fishing, hunting and the outdoors. He left North Dakota after high school, but the state never left his heart and was the source of many of his fondest memories. After earning a BA in Physics from St. John’s University in Minnesota in 1960, Ed moved to Southern California to work as an engineer, first in physics and then in optics. His love of optical design then led him to New York, where he attended the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics on a fellowship and earned his MS in Optics in 1965. He permanently relocated to Southern California in 1968 after working for three years in Massachusetts. Ed worked as an optical engineer for approximately 40 years at various aerospace and design companies and spent the final 13 years of his career at JPL. He worked on many notable projects during his career, including NASA’s Surveyor Program (which involved sending robotic spacecraft to the moon to gather data utilized for the historic Apollo 11 moonwalk), the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope and the two Mars Exploration Rovers that landed in 2004. Ed is survived by his wife of 45 years, Rosemary, his son, Ed Jr. (Diana), his daughter, Katherine, his brother Bob (Peggy), his sister, Margie (Dick Keddy), and numerous cousins, nephews and nieces. He was predeceased by his parents and brother Rev. Donald Hagerott. Services to be held on January 21 at St. Rita Catholic Church, 318 North Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre. Rosary, 10 a.m.; Funeral Mass, 11 a.m. Care entrusted to Douglass & Zook Chapel of Remembrance Funeral Home (626) 358-3244.