Former Livingston resident Herbert Joseph Wolkstein died August 28 in West Orange at the age of 96. Funeral services will be held today, Thursday, at 11:45 a.m. at the Bernheim-Apter- Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel, Livingston. Interment will be at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Iselin. Born in Newark, Mr. Wolkstein moved to Livingston in 1959, where he lived until 2015. A graduate of Weequahic High School and the Newark College of Engineering (now known as New Jersey Institute of Technology), he started his professional career in 1953 as an electrical engineer in the microwave tube division of the RCA Corporation. Over the next 34 years at RCA, Mr. Wolkstein rose to become the head of space communications and electronic counter measures at the RCA Laboratories David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton. He was awarded 25 patents, authored 44 technical papers, and contributed to the development of numerous communications satellites. In 1982, he was awarded the RCA Laboratories Outstanding Achievement Award for his work in developing RCA communication satellites. In 1983, he received RCA Corporation’s highest honor, the David Sarnoff Research Award, for outstanding technical achievement. After the sale of RCA to General Electric in 1987, Mr. Wolkstein left the company to become an independent consultant to the aerospace and defense electronics industry, in which he was active until 2014. He was considered one of the world’s leading experts in travelling wave tubes and satellite communications. Mr. Wolkstein served in the Army Air Corps in the European Theater during World War II. He was predeceased by his wife, Doris Eckel Wolkstein. He is survived by his daughter, Marianne, and sons, William and John; daughter-in-law, Amy; and three grandchildren. The family has suggested that memorial donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation; checks may be mailed to Donation Processing, Michael J. Fox Foundation, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741.
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