Klaus Juergensen passed away peacefully at Huntsville Hospital on October 24th with his family by his side, following a brief acute illness. Klaus was born in Ploen in northern Germany in 1928 as one of four sons. He graduated from high school, the Internatsoberschule Schloss Ploen. He earned his Diplom Ingineur (the equivalent of a Master’s of Science Degree) in Electrical Engineering from the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt Germany in 1954.
Klaus’s first employment was with AEG Schiffsbau working diesel-electric propulsion systems in Hamburg, Germany, but in 1957 he had the opportunity to come to America to work on the then-new American space program with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). In 1960 he was transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His work involved the design and development of early solid-state switching circuits, systems, and magnetics for early space vehicles, digital microelectronics for the Apollo program, and finally test activities on post-Apollo flight hardware. He received several awards and patents, but he tended to downplay these and did not like to mention his accomplishments. After leaving NASA in 1984, Klaus joined Intergraph Corporation in Huntsville, working on CAD software development for microelectronic circuit design until his retirement in 1992.
Klaus enjoyed woodworking and the outdoors, spending many happy days at Lake Guntersville with friends and family. After retirement, he and wife Rosemarie enjoyed travelling the world.
Klaus was preceded in death by his brothers, Kay Otto Juergensen, Karl Heinz Juergensen, and Kurt Juergensen, and by his parents, Peter and Hedwig Juergensen, all of Germany.
Klaus is survived by his wife of 60 years, Rosemarie Stueck Juergensen of Huntsville; son, Peter Wolf Juergensen (Katherine) of Satellite Beach, Florida; daughter, Karen Juergensen Gentry (William) of New Market; two much-loved grandchildren, Chong Alexandra Juergensen and Ian Hyeon-su Juergensen of Satellite Beach; nieces, Dr. Ursula Juergensen (Knut) of Darmstadt, Germany and Arnhild Schalke (Herbert) of Schorndorf, Germany; and nephews, Kay Arnulf Juergensen of Fuessen , Germany, and Ulf Eckart Juergensen of Konstanz, Germany.
A Memorial Celebration of Klaus’s life will be held on November 22nd at 3:00 p.m. at Monte Sano United Methodist Church followed by a reception in the Fellowship Hall.
Donations in Klaus’s memory may be made to Huntsville Hospital or Huntsville Master Chorale.
The Juergensen family wishes to extend their appreciation to the many doctors, nurses, techs, therapists, and staff that have provided such excellent care of Klaus over the years, particularly those at Huntsville Hospital and Redstone Village.
