Dr. Leo Young died September 14, 2006, of complications from cancer. He was 80 years old. He was a pioneer in the microwave industry and served as president of both MTT-S and IEEE.
He received his BS degree in physics and math in 1946 and his MS degree in electrical engineering in 1949, both from Cambridge University. In 1957 he received his doctorate in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
As a young engineer, he worked at Westinghouse on microwave components and antennas. He is best known for his work on filter technology at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, and later as superintendent of the Electrical Engineering Division of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.
Young held 20 patents, was the author of many papers as well as author, co-author or editor of 14 books, including the classic Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks and Coupling Structures. Originally published in 1964, it is still available and continues to sell well even after 42 years. He was a researcher, a teacher, a mentor to many young engineers and a frequent contributor to Microwave Journal. He made many significant contributions to the microwave industry and will be remembered both for his work and as a friend to many of us.