...With Lifetime Achievement Award
George Lewison (seen here in the middle, between
AEA's Michael O'Leary and AEA President Paula Derks) was honored
Thursday morning, during Opening Ceremonies at the 46th Annual
Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) Convention and Trade Show in
Orlando (FL), as AEA's Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for
2003.
Lewison, a longtime friend to many AEA members, was born in San
Antonio (TX) on June 9, 1916, the oldest of three children. He
remembers his father's love of radios and when he first brought
home a crystal radio set.
By putting the headset in a large glass bowl, the whole family
could hear it. This was just the beginning or Lewison's fascination
with the world of radios.
While in elementary school in Glendale (CA), Lewison made
friends with a fellow radio enthusiast and soon they were into
amateur radios, building their own transceivers from plans in
Popular Mechanic Magazine.
"We both built a ham transceiver from the
Popular Mechanic plans ... neither one of them worked ...
but that got me extremely interested in radio communication,"
Lewison recalls.
At the age of 13, Lewison took the FCC test and got his amateur
radio license. After high school, he enrolled in Frank Wiggins
Technical School. Upon graduation, he took the FCC First Class
Commercial Radio Telephone License test and missed only one
question out of 100.
He immediately went to work for Bendix Radio as a
technician. After working for Bendix for nine years, he went to
work for Qualitron Aero in Burbank. After that he headed to
Airesearch Aviation, where he spent 33 years.
The last five years of his time spent with Airesearch, he was
avionics manager for the Long Beach facility. He handled
engineering and certification for the busy facility, and developed
their FAA Designated Alteration Station.
In 1986, Lewison went to to work for Gulfstream Aerospace as
senior marketing executive, where he was involved in writing
an extremely large completion specification for G3 and G4 aircraft.
He was traveling worldwide to visit Gulfstream customers.
During this time Lewison also served on AEA's board of
directors.
He retired from Gulfstream in 1993 at the age of
77, but remains active in the industry to this day, as a
consultant.
Lewison also writes monthly articles for Avionics News
magazine.
Lewison is a member of The Air Force Association, The Aero Club
of Southern California and The Los Angeles World Affair
Council.
He currently lives in Redondo Beach (CA) with his wife,
Gertrude. They have three children, Mitzi, Terry and David.