Francis Joseph Brady Jr.

Francis (Frank) Joseph Brady Jr, age 91, of Los Angeles, California passed away on September 20, 2023. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended Our Lady of Mercy Grammar School, followed by high school at Loyola Academy where he demonstrated a talent for mathematics and chemistry. Frank earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Loyola University in Chicago. He then completed a Master’s Degree in Mathematics at the University of Michigan.

At the University of Michigan, he met and married Betty Louise Wright. They had six children. They raised their family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sierra Vista, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California. In 1982 they were divorced. In later years they celebrated many holidays together with all their children.

Frank met Ellen Stein while bowling. Ellen was attracted to this strong, confident man. Frank was attracted to this attractive, gentle, yet tough lady. They were together for almost 40 years, until her death in 2019. They shared a love of their animals and families.

Frank began his career at the University of Michigan as a teaching fellow. For most of his career, Frank was a computer programmer. He was employed by two defense contractors, CEIR and URS, in Sierra Vista, and Control Data, the City of Los Angeles, and TRW after moving to California. While working for the City of Los Angeles, he supervised a small team that used traffic patterns and computers to program traffic lights to streamline traffic. Frank also worked as a programmer/analyst, and later as a test engineer, before retiring from TRW in 1992. At TRW, he played an integral role in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope. Frank planned, designed and developed software which identified and corrected problems in both hardware and software.

Frank was hardworking, competitive, and articulate. Throughout his career, after working an eight hour day, he would eat dinner, then go into his home office to work another 4-6 hours. He loved playing games, such a bowling, poker, bridge, and chess. If you played chess with Frank, you settled in for a long game. Frank often took 10-15 minutes for a single chess move thinking through all the possibilities until he found the optimal move.

Frank was known to be honest and demonstrated integrity in all aspects of his life. For example, while working as a test engineer, his superiors pressured him to sign off on a program. He argued that the testing wasn’t complete; therefore, he would not signoff at that time. He convinced them this was the correct decision.

Frank loved camping and outdoor adventures. In 1974, he took his two oldest sons backpacking in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. His boys remember this as challenging and hunger inducing. Frank; however, fell in love with backpacking. In subsequent years, he invited (or dragged along) his children, brother, nieces, nephews and friends to his favorite spots in Sequoia-Kings Canyon. He loved photography and his backpacking photos were hung throughout his home.

Frank also adored his animals. After retirement, he spent many hours taking his dogs, and sometimes the cat, for walks around the block, at the park or on the beach.

Frank is preceded in death by his parents, Francis Sr and Agnes Brady, his sisters, Barbara Walsh and Nancy Pushor, and his brother, Donald Brady. He is survived by his children, Francis III (Anne), Daniel (Donna), Theresa, Susan, Cynthia (Dave), and Edward (Ana); grandchildren Jonathan, Brian, Michael, Ryan, Katie, and Christopher.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptunesociety.com/location/sherman-oaks-crema for the Brady family.