Ted Strong, D-16
4/7/1936-10/14/2011

A visionary from the beginning and a man with an enormous heart passed away on Friday. Ted Strong was inducted into the National Skydiving Museum's Hall of Fame in 2010, its inaugural celebration. Ted began parachuting in 1958 and trained jumpers at the US Military Academy at West Point until his discharge in 1961. That year, he founded Strong Enterprises, a manufacturer of parachute equipment now based in Orlando, Florida. Ted logged more than 4,900 jumps. A multiple patent holder, Strong designed and built the first tandem system (the most common method for introducing people to the sport) in 1984. Ted Strong will be dearly missed.

Erwin Wuester, a Riverdale native who was a leading authority on the design of military parachutes, has died.

The textile engineer died May 5 after a brief illness. He was 80 and lived in Lowell, Mass.

Wilfred J. A. "Squeak" Charette, who was born November 14, 1936, passed away May 9, 2010, at his home in Tampa. Among his many achievements, he was one of the original Golden Knights, serving 11 years in the U.S. Army.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Amy Charette.

On 9th of January 2010, Mgr. Josef Pavlata, Czech legend of the classic parachuting, member of the Army Sport Team of Parachuting DUKLA Prostějov died after a long fight with a serious disease.

Hank Simbro, D-63, passed away on Friday, 1-22-2010 at Clark Fork, Idaho. He did most of his jumping at the Lancaster, Taft and Arvin DZ's in Southern California.

Hank’s wife, Muriel D-78, was a member of the 1962 U.S. Women's Parachute Team.

The family has requested that donations be sent in Hank’s name to the the National Skydiving Museum, 5401 Southpoint Centre Blvd. Suite 702, Fredericksburg, VA 22407 or online at www.skydivingmuseum.org.

Gary G. Pond, born into a skydiving family and an active skydiver for decades, died Jan. 27, 2010 of cancer at his home in Orange, MA.

David Theodore Barish, aeronautical engineer and parachute inventor, died on December 15, 2009 in New York City. He was 88.

His family announced his death, which was the result of Multiple Myeloma.

Loy Brydon, 77, died unexpectedly October 25, 2009 at his home in Tucson, Arizona. Loy is survived by his children Kenny, Kevin, Ty and Hugh (Patti), grandchildren Beth, David, Stephanie and Rosemary, great granddaughter Tristin and his siblings Beverly Sanderson & Lee Brydon. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son Mark. He will be missed by all, including Sarah, his Weimariner and Tee Taylor, his ex-wife and best friend.