Eph Konigsberg Passes Away

Eph Konigsberg

Eph Konigsberg, active in LA fandom in the ‘40s and ‘50s, died September 9

He joined LASFS in the 1940s and gained a reputation as one of the club’s main book reviewers.

An engineer, he eventually established Konigsberg Instruments, a company that specializes in miniature medical implants.

Jerry Pournelle and Konigsberg were good friends. See Jerry’s tribute here. Part of it tells about Konigsberg’s professional work:

Eph owned and was chief scientist of an instrumentation company that did fabulous work on physiological instrumentation, including a pill that troops could swallow and thereafter broadcast their fundamental physiological data. He did all this in early days when Moore’s Law hadn’t made such work easier.

Jerry also says Eph enjoyed lecturing (even more than Jerry!) Perhaps that begins to explain why Philip K. Dick dedicated The World Jones Made (1956) to “Eph Konigsberg who talked fast and talked very well.”

Konigsberg was married three times, first in 1949 to June (later Moffatt). They divorced in 1964. Together they had three children Robert (Bob), Katie, and Jerry.

Late in life Konigsberg also adopted Sandy Andrews and Karenia Kaminski, his step-daughters of nearly forty years. Bob Konigsberg told the Sierra Madre News: “They devoted much of the last few years to caring for Eph as they would have their own father – which is why he adopted them – to make sure they would be honored as his daughters. They are both like sisters to me as well.” 

Eph Konigsberg was very active in his hometown’s civic affairs. Named Sierra Madre’s Older American in 2008, he was one of the honored passengers riding classic cars in the city’s Fourth of July parade that year.

[Via Chaos Manor.]

2 thoughts on “Eph Konigsberg Passes Away

  1. I am very sad to hear this. My husband Chuck and I were fairly good friends of Eph and his wife, Josepha, in the ‘Seventies. He was an avid gardener and I remember that he built a device to crack macadamia nuts, since he had a stand of the trees on his property. He gave me a white fig, which I planted at our house in Manhattan Beach.

  2. I am so very sad to hear this. He was the most generous, fun- and science-loving man. I had the honor and the pleasure of spending some time with him about 4 years ago. It was the most heart-warming way to be welcomed to Southern California. What a great loss.
    Rest in Peace, Eph!
    Julia

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