Services Friday for John Notchev, Lancea Founder

A memorial service will be held Friday for John S. Notchev, founder of Lancea Corp., who died March 13 at Coronado Hospital after a brief illness. He was 74.

Notchev founded Lancea in 1965 after eight years as an engineer with General Dynamics, according to a family spokesman. Lancea Corp. provides temporary technical personnel to the aerospace industry.

Notchev was born in Karlovo, Bulgaria, and emigrated to the United States via Canada in 1957. He became an American citizen in 1962. Notchev was employed as a senior design engineer at the General Dynamics Convair Division from 1957 to 1965. He worked on the Apollo space program and the Triga reactor for General Atomics.

Before coming to the United States, Notchev was a senior aircraft-systems engineer with Canadair Ltd. in Montreal.

Notchev, a Coronado resident, is survived by his wife, Vessa; a sister, Maria Notchev of Bulgaria, and a nephew, Chris Danchev of Coronado.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the Chapel of the Roses in Glen Abbey Memorial Park, Bonita. The family suggests contributions to Coronado Hospital in lieu of flowers.