September 1, 1937 - October 3, 2015 Gerry has been very much missed and always will be. Gerry passed away on October 3, 2015 in Edmonds, Washington from complications of cancer. He left behind his wife, Darlene, sons Eric and Sol, daughter-in-law's Ashleah and Terri and two granddaughters, Peyton and Sofiya. Gerry was born on September 1, 1937 in Gering, Nebraska to Carl and Elsa Klein. He attended school in Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska and graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1955. Gerry moved to Southern California at the age of 18. Gerry married Darlene Waltz on February 25th, 1961. They were married 54 years. Gerry served in the US Army for 2 years and was honorably discharged. He was an avid and accomplished pianist and won many awards for his ability and talent. Gerry loved to travel to Europe with Darlene, as well as Central America, Mexico and many of the 50 states. He worked at Beckman Instruments in Fullerton and Brea California for 34 years, working his way up the ranks from draftsman to engineer to scientist to the leader of an Advanced Product Development Group. Gerry had a vision which became a reality by leading a team that would develop a viable lifesaving product using a technique called Capillary Electrophoresis, which allowed laboratory workers to screen blood samples for myeloma, a cancer of blood that affects the bone marrow and many other bodily systems. Prior to this invention it would require highly skilled laboratory technicians as much as 90 minutes to screen a single sample for the disease. Gerry's accomplishment in this field reduced the sample testing time to 2 minutes, allowing the screen of many more samples at a substantially reduced cost. The enhanced and lengthened the lives of many patients. Gerry was inducted into the Beckman Instruments inventor's hall of fame in recognition of the 34 patents he received during his career with the company. He was well liked by his colleagues, friends and everyone he came into contact with. In 1984 Gerry accepted a position with Genetic Systems of Seattle Washington as the Director of Systems Development where he was known as a "Technology Guru." He was a unique man with a zest for science and learning. During his time at Genetic Systems three major products were developed and released. He enjoyed his time at many startup companies; He was a full-time consultant for Micronics and a Vice President of Product Development for Biotope Corporation. Gerry had many hobbies, was active in Rock and Gem clubs where he cut and faceted gemstones using his own designs, installing the gems into settings he also designed himself. Gerry was a Lifetime Member of the American Mineralogical Society and became an expert in Optical Crystallography used to identify new and interesting minerals. He was also very active in collecting postcards and became the highly respected editor of the Pacific Northwest Postcard Club newsletter, a post he held for seven years. He provided insightful articles and editorial content, often using material from his own extensive collection of postcards. He also was an avid stamp collector and designed artistic pages for mounting and displaying the many stamps he collected and cataloged.