Gene Salvay, 96, passed away on April 8, 2016, at his home in Encino, California, surrounded by family and loving friends. Gene was born Nov. 15, 1919, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Israel David Salvay (born Soloveichik in Veisiejai, Lithuania), pattern-maker at FashionBilt Garment Co., and Anna Salvay (born Brudner [Kiansky] in Starodub, Russia). Interment was at Eden Memorial Park, Mission Hills, California.
At age 7, Gene accompanied his father to the Kansas City airport to witness Charles Lindbergh land his “Spirit of St. Louis” airplane. Gene was awestruck; thus began his storied career in aviation design and engineering.
Gene spent much of his youth building model airplanes in his parents’ basement. He created a model airplane club and its members flew their planes on Harry and Bess Truman’s farm in Grandview, Missouri. While in Kansas City’s Central High School Class of 1936, he won two national Fisher Body Design awards, one for an auto design that later went into manufacture. He received his aeronautical engineering degree in 1941 from Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute, Glendale, California.
On Monday, Dec. 1, 1941, Gene became the first Jewish engineer hired at North American Aviation’s B-25 plant in Kansas City, Kansas. Owing to the prejudice of his superiors, he spent his first week just sitting in a chair. The following week, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and Gene’s boss said, “Let’s get to work, Gene. We have a war on!” Gene was not bitter, but his experience with prejudice informed his career: He was the first to integrate aeronautical engineering by hiring African-American and Asian-American engineers in his workgroups.
His talent for design was recognized while still in Kansas City; he was instrumental in designing modifications to the B-25 airplane as requested by Jimmy Doolittle. In 1943, then-Senator Harry Truman came to Kansas City to tour the B-25 plant, sending his entourage to tour the plant while he visited with Gene about his model airplanes.
In his off hours from the B-25 plant, Gene designed and built one of the pre-eminent homebuilt aircraft of its day, the Skyhopper, in the basement of his parents’ home at 4033 Bellefontaine. To his father’s chagrin, Gene had to remove part of the rear basement wall to get the plane’s fuselage out. Until the end of World War II, Gene used the plane to commute to North American’s Dallas, Texas, plant. He went on to co-design the “Nifty,” an airplane that went into standard production under the name “Varga Kachina.”
Gene’s career at North American took him to Los Angeles after World War II. Eventually, he retired from Lockheed’s famed “Skunkworks,” where he worked on stealth technology and space vehicles. While he focused primarily on the design of military aircraft (including F-86, P-51, C-82, F-100F and B-1 bomber), and oversaw the original design of the Mercury space capsule, his proudest achievement was the design of the Sabreliner executive jet.
Gene was also an accomplished private pilot; he believed that anyone who designed airplanes should know how to fly them. He went on to pilot his Beechcraft Bonanza for many years, flying as recently as three weeks before his death, with his son Michael as co-pilot.
Gene took great pride in his Jewish heritage and was thrilled to receive a call from Moshe Arens to help establish the modern Israel Aircraft Industries. Gene and his family spent a year in Israel (1970-71), where he designed the Kfir fighter jet.
Gene was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 52 years, Betty (Goodman) Salvay; and his brother, Seymour Nathan Salvay. Survivors include his children: Bennett (Jan) Salvay of Tarzana, California, and children Daniel, Madeline “Maddie,” and Emily; Debbie (Steve) Sandler of Melbourne, Australia, and children Rachel, Jonathan, and Jordan; and Michael (Laura) Salvay of Palos Verdes Estates, California, and children Evan, David, and Jenna. Also surviving are sisters-in-law Geraldine “Gerry” Salvay, of Overland Park, Kansas, and Ellen (Ralph) Nathan of Sacramento, California; admiring nieces, Melissa (Greg) Rose and Chilly (Danielle) Nathan; and a loving nephew, Craig Salvay.
Gene never lost his childhood interest in building model airplanes, a pastime he enjoyed until his last week of life. “To live a long time,” he said, “You have to have two things: A good sense of humor, and a focus on the positives of life.”
In the hearts of all who knew him, Gene will be remembered for his commitment to family, his sincere faith, his love of gardening, and his eternal optimism.