Gustavo A. Faist<br/> July 29, 1929 - October 5, 2014

Gustavo “Gus” Faist, a La Cañada resident of forty-nine years and former software engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, passed away October 5th, at the age of 85. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for several years.

A nephew of silent film star, Ramon Novarro, Gustavo was born in Los Angeles in 1929 to Mexican immigrants, Gustavo A. Faist, Sr. and Luz Samaniego. He attended elementary school at St. Paul School, and graduated in 1947 from Loyola High School, Los Angeles.

In 1950, he received a diploma in Technical Electronics from Los Angeles City College. He continued his education at Loyola University, Los Angeles where he studied Electrical Engineering and was a member of Alpha Sigma Nu. In 1954, he helped lead the University’s intramural football team to a championship win, and in 1955, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. As a U.S. Air Force ROTC Cadet, he was awarded the Distinguished Military Student in 1954 and Distinguished Military Graduate in 1955.

Following graduation, Gus spent two-years in the Air Force while stationed at Edwards Air Force Base. At the Flight Test Center he was the project engineer for an analog flight simulator for test pilots. He worked at Lockheed Corp. for a short time, but spent the majority of his more than 40-year career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on various NASA space missions including Mariner 9, the Viking Mission to Mars, Voyager 1 and the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite that mapped the surface topography of the oceans. He retired from JPL in 1998.

It was at JPL where Gus met his future wife, JoAnn. They were married in 1964 and moved to La Cañada the following year. Both his daughters, Jennifer and Christina, attended La Cañada schools: Oak Grove Elementary, Foothill Intermediate and La Cañada High.

Gus’ greatest joy in life was spending time with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time he enjoyed jazz drumming, electronics, and flying small single-engine airplanes.

Gustavo is survived by his brother, Philip Faist of Sherman Oaks; daughter, Jennifer Faist Hill, and son-in-law, Craig Hill, of La Cañada-Flintridge; and daughter, Christina Faist-Glass, and son-in-law, Daniel Glass, of New York City. He was preceded in death by his wife, JoAnn and his sisters, Lenore Faist and Lupe Plank.

A celebration of Gustavo’s life will be held November 8th. For details, please contact Jennifer Faist Hill: jennifer.faist@artcenter.edu

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to The Planetary Society in his memory. The Planetary Society: 1-626-793-5100