Norman Kusnetz

Norman Kusnetz

Born March 17th 1928 in New York, died April 3rd 2022 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was 94 years old. Norman was raised in Brooklyn by his grandfather, Hyman and his mother Frances, a younger brother Seymour died when Norman was two, his father passed in 1943, when Norman was 14. Norman graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and in 1946 at the age of 17, joined the Coast Guard. This began a lifelong love of electronics and technology.

After the military he served as a civilian employee in a variety of civil service positions and postings in New England and up and down the eastern seaboard. In 1957 he married Alberta Zwirn and in 1959 he, his wife and their six-week-old newborn, Arthur, accepted a posting with the ICA, The International Cooperative Agency, a forerunner of USAID, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The mission was to install radar and navigational aids for the country’s newest airport in the capital of Brasilia. The highlight of which were numerous flights in a DC-3 to test that equipment. The couple remained fluent in Portuguese throughout their lives. Upon returning to the States, Norman joined the CAA, the Civil Aeronautics Administration the forerunner of the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, eventually settling in Baldwin Harbor on Long Island where they had three more children, Ira born 1963, Ilyse born 1966 and Susan born 1968. In 1972 Norman was promoted to Assistant Sector Manager in Albuquerque New Mexico, one of only 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the United States. He served as sector manager until he retired to take care of his wife during her battle with cancer.

Norman was predeceased by his brother, Seymour; father, Harry Aaron; mother, Frances; wife, Alberta; and daughter, Ilyse. He is survived by daughter, Susan; son, Arthur; son, Ira; and his granddaughter, Haley; and grandson, Braden. Norman was laid to rest next to his beloved wife in Fairview Cemetery in Albuquerque.