Nathan Joseph Epstein

Nathan (Nat) Joseph Epstein was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 24th,1940 to Lillian Pessin and David Epstein. A true genius, he graduated high school at the age of 16 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Brooklyn College (a college for gifted students) at the age of 20. A well-rounded individual, he spoke five languages including Latin. He played on the college baseball team, played city park basketball, and handball every day throughout his youth. Upon graduation, he became a math teacher but was drawn to computer science. He studied emerging computing languages, Fortran and Cobol, which eventually brought him to the west coast. He started a career as a software engineer and was quickly assigned to work on the very first space shuttle launch and the first U.S radar system in Alaska. A forward-thinking innovator, he helped develop one of the first software systems for hotel management and he also created software for small aircraft navigation.

Nat was briefly married in his early thirties. While the marriage did not work out, a terrific father and son relationship was forged. He adopted his ex-wife’s six-year-old son, Kenny, and raised him as a devoted single father. At the age of 43, Nat met the love of his life, Beverly, at a beach party thrown by close mutual friends. They quickly fell in love and after 11 months they were married on the Queen Mary on Valentine’s Day. Later that year at the age of 44, they were blessed with having a baby, David. Nat was ecstatic when he heard the news that Beverly was pregnant, and ran around the house for hours in celebration. Nat and Beverly’s focus then became raising David and they spent their time supporting all of David’s extracurricular activities while always encouraging his scholarly accomplishments.

Nat was filled with an abundance of unconditional love for not only his family but also his friends and the community. He always saw the best in people and truly lived each day to the fullest. His smile could light up any room and his laughter was contagious. He was an honest man, he was humble, and he always stayed true to his word. Family was always his number one priority in life as he was the most devoted father and husband. Nat was known for his strength and perseverance and he always overcame life’s challenges. The key lessons he taught us are the importance of love, respect, devotion, and integrity.

He was a brilliant chess player, a talented bridge player, a champion racquetball player, and an accomplished bowler, landing himself in the Bowling Hall of Fame with a perfect 300 game at 63 years old. He had a love for animals especially his dog, Koko. He also enjoyed riding motorcycles throughout his life.

Nat will be so greatly missed by his family, his friends and every life that he touched. We are so thankful to have you here with us to celebrate and honor the incredible man that Nat was.

He is survived by his wife Beverly, brother Harold, son Kenny and wife Laura, son David and wife Amanda, and son Alan.