Hansberry, Ernest Virgil

Ernest Virgil Hansberry, 80, died peacefully on August 10, 2012, at the Kroontje Health Care Center, Warm Hearth Village, Blacksburg. He was born in Wenatchee, Wash., on July 24, 1932, to Alice and Lloyd E. Hansberry. He is preceded in death by his parents and two siblings, Berndetta and Harry Louis Slominski. He is survived by his dear wife of 57 years, Jean Ann Morser Hansberry; daughter Janet and son-in-law, Joel Donahue; son, Mitchell and daughter-in-law, Susan Hansberry; grandchildren, Ray Saxon, Christopher Donahue and fiance, Paula Phillips, Koren Donahue Meadows and husband, Aaron; great-grandchildren, Riley and Alaina Meadows. Ernie was a Korean War vet, serving as Air Force airman. Design was his lifelong passion. He earned a B.S. in Industrial Design from Art Center in Los Angeles. While he worked for General Electric (Syracuse, N.Y.), his team received an Alcoa award for his modular design of a missile computer, the precursor of the motherboard. While working for Grumman Corporation (Long Island, N.Y.), he designed equipment for the Lunar Rover and Lunar Excursion Module that went to the moon. In 1999, he retired from RELA (Boulder, CO), after designing key parts of a machine for screening hospital blood supplies for HIV. He received 13 patents. Ernie enjoyed flying, sailing, skiing and auto racing. He had a pilot’s license, skied the slopes of Colorado, sailed the Long Island waters, and raced BMWs at the Nurburgring in Germany. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather. The family will hold a private memorial. Memorial donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association , www.alz.org. arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home.