Obituary of Paul David Castenholz

Paul D. Castenholz was born on January 14, 1926, in Muskegon, Michigan to J. Paul and Alice Beatrice (Rogers) Castenholz. Paul passed away on September 3, 2021.In early 1943, during the first part of his senior year at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, Paul joined the Navy with close friends. He served three years in the Pacific campaigns in operations including the Marshall and Marianna Islands during World War II.When the war ended, Paul returned to Los Angeles and thanks to the GI Bill, he entered the University of California at Los Angeles. He was a member of the first class of the College of Engineering. He received his B.S. (1949) and M.S. (1957) both in mechanical engineering. He obtained an Advanced Management Program degree from the Harvard School of Business (1973). He joined North American Aviation (later to become Rockwell International) in the newly formed Rocketdyne Division in 1949. As an aerospace engineer Paul was the manager of the teams that built the Redstone, Jupiter, Thor, Atlas and Saturn rocket engines that sent American astronauts into orbit in 1968 and landed the first man on the moon in 1969. As Rocketdyne Vice President and Program Manager, in 1973 he led the team that captured the government contract for the design and development of the Space Shuttle Main Engine.From 1980 through 1987 he was Group President of the Process Equipment Group at Joy Technologies, where he managed five divisions worldwide (U.S., Canada, England, South Africa, and Mexico) that designed, manufactured, marketed, and operated major process equipment for the environmental and mining industries.Paul was the recipient of numerous honors, including NASA's Distinguished Public Service Award (for the Apollo program) in 1969; the Robert Goddard Award (highest national award for Space Sciences) in 1972; and was UCLA Alumnus of the Year (Science & Engineering) in 1974. He was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a lecturer at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (International Astronautical Federation) in 1973.A sportsman and hobbyist, he enjoyed tennis, golf, fly fishing, scuba diving, and mountaineering.Paul is survived by his beloved wife, Esther; daughters, Marilee and Nancy; sons, David and Stephen; his brother, Bill; seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.Private family services are planned.