Homer R. Denius
January 31, 1914 - April 20, 2006
|
Remembering Homer Denius
"When I was in the fifth grade in southern Ohio, I made my first radio set out of a cardboard oatmeal box and a crystal," he said in an interview for the 100-year anniversary of Harris in 1995. "Somebody gave me a set of headphones and some wire and I could get KDKA in Pittsburgh. Then another fellow came along and gave me a lot of radio parts — a three-tube set and a whole bunch of parts to make radios out of. That's what got me started, and I never got away from it." |
Homer Rainey Denius' passion for innovation began at an early age.
Denius, co-founder of Radiation, Inc. and chairman of the company when it merged with Harris in 1967, passed away April 20, 2006, in Colorado Springs at the age of 92.
Denius and George Shaw co-founded Radiation in Melbourne in 1950, when the space race was in its infancy. Radiation quickly became a leader in the design and manufacture of telemetry equipment for rockets.
"The fact that we were able to get into the digital space technology business before anyone else, and did a very good job in that respect, was largely responsible for the growth of Radiation," he recalled. "We didn't have much competition and our group had more knowledge from the start in digital telemetry than any other group in the country. I don't think we ever lost a contract in that particular area."
As the space program grew, so did Radiation, and in 1967 it merged with Harris. In 1969, Denius retired and began his next ventures, which included racing yachts, as well as raising horses on a ranch in Wyoming. He returned to Florida after 15 years and then moved to Colorado Springs in 2004 to be near his children.
In addition to their technological achievements, Denius, Shaw and other early Radiation and Harris leaders were very involved with initiatives in education and the arts in Brevard County. Denius was a strong supporter of Florida Tech since its inception in 1958. He established the Denius Foundation in 1960 to support the school and personally contributed to its first building in 1961. The university awarded him the President's Medal in 1994.
AB Amis, who worked at Radiation in Engineering and Contracts when the company was comprised of just 70 people, remembers Denius as a genuinely nice man who was highly principled and believed in fair dealings.
"Homer was respected and loved by the employees, and customers knew they could count on him to get the job done," Amis said. "Even though Homer was the businessman and salesman for Radiation, he was basically a shy person, though he did have a streak of mischief in him. I remember a memo he wrote once that if you can't say anything nice about your competitor, don't say anything at all."