Former Malibu resident John Fling died April 6 in Mendocino. He was 84.
Fling was born on August 31, 1927 in Miami, Fla. His family moved across the country in the 1930s, settling in Escondido, Calif.
Fling attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and worked after school for Gilfillan Brothers, a defense electronics contractor booming with wartime work. After graduating in 1945, he was inducted into the U.S. Air Force, with a civilian commission at the rank of Major, and immediately deployed to support Berlin Air Life as one of the first ground-controlled approach radar traffic controllers. Fling successfully guided thousands of relief flights over East Berlin. He also provided Air Force radar air traffic services in Yokoda, Japan.
After leaving the Air Force, Fling attended Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1952. He then attended UCLA for his post-graduate work in electronics and computer science.
Fling married Mary Schiltz of Los Angeles in 1953. They purchased bluff-top property on Point Dume where they built the home where they raised their five children, John, Mark, Martha, Mary and Michael.
Fling continued his professional career with Gilfillan, where he developed several successful military air defense radar systems. Developed in the late 1960s and incorporating novel microwave technology invented by Fling, two of his radar systems will be in planned use by the Navy until 2040.
Fling left ITT Gilfillan in 1970 to form his own company, I/C Engineering, pioneering remote multiplexing communication systems for industrial instrumentation and control. He sold I/C Engineering in 1982 and became a consultant. In 1984, Fling formed Monomode Optical Systems to develop fiber-optic communication systems. Monomode, working with Stanford University, developed the erbium-doped fiber optic amplifier (EDFA), now widely used in long-distance optical communication transmission.
Fling held five patents based on his work in radar, fiber-optics and mechanical sensing technology.
Fling is survived by his wife of 58 years, Mary, his five children; and nine grandchildren including Aidan, Devon, and Remy Zimmerman of Malibu; and brothers William and Thomas.
Memorial services will be take place at Our Lady of Malibu on Sat., June 16 at 11a.m. A reception will follow immediately at Sheridan Hall.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to John J. Fling ’45 Memorial Scholarship, Loyola High School, 1601 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006.