Glenn R. Heidbreder

Glenn R. Heidbreder, a Santa Barbara resident from 1963 when he helped establish UCSB’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, to his retirement in 1991, passed on August 9, 2024, at age 95, near his home in Northern Virginia. Born in 1929 in rural Missouri, he served in the Navy, attended Yale, and came to Southern California to work in space engineering research, and then in university teaching. At UCSB he met Santa Barbara native Gloria Livingston; they were married until her tragic death of cancer in 1983. Always deeply interested in law and politics, he took a J.D. at Loyola U. of Los Angeles, writing his thesis on the causes of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. In 1991 he settled in the nation’s capitol area, where he had earlier (1981-82) worked as IEEE Congressional Fellow, and taught at George Washington University. A sharply critical researcher, thinker, and writer who loved people, as professor he found the greatest satisfaction in teaching and mentoring students.

A memorial service will be held on September 18 at 10:30 AM at Galilee United Methodist Church at 45425 Winding Rd, Sterling, VA. Cards and flowers are welcome. His remains will be interred at the Quantico National Memorial Cemetery.