Dieter Knollman, PhD

Dieter Knollman was born on May 25, 1941 in Buende, Germany to Helene and Ewald Knollman. He and his mother emigrated to the U.S. in 1953, settling in Norfolk, VA. He graduated from Maury High School in 1959 and went on as a co-op student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he received a B.S in Electrical Engineering in 1964. He was hired by Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, N.J. Thanks to the Labs employee education program, in 1965 he received a M.S in E.E. from the University of Illinois and his PhD in E.E from New York University in 1970. Dieter and Ann met in 1964 and were married on August 9, 1969, living in Guttenberg, N.J. while he completed his PhD work. In 1969, Bell Labs established a new location in Denver so on January 2, 1971 Dieter and Ann arrived in Colorado and settled in Arvada. He spent his entire career working for Ma Bell in telephony design and business communications systems. The U.S. Patent office granted him 12 patents. Dieter was considered a circuit design expert and an analog simulation expert. In 1983, the company recognized his achievements in circuitry design by naming him Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. He retired from Lucent Technologies in 2000. He was often called upon as a consultant. His hobby was electronics and he shared his devices with friends. He built computers from scratch and enjoyed helping people solve their computer problems. He believed in searching for bargains and finding the best deal. He would gladly assist anyone who asked him for help. He had a brilliant mind, a gorgeous smile and an infectious laugh. Before he acted on anything, he always researched it. He truly had an engineering mind. When Dieter was diagnosed as a diabetic, he took up walking and said he became addicted to it. No matter the weather, he walked the dog three times a day. He was an active participant in the Look Ahead Study. They were the first to detect his heart problem, resulting in quintuple by-pass surgery in 2002. Dieter felt the Study saved his life as he had no symptoms of cardiac problems. He was told the first symptom is you drop dead. That happened on October 30, 2013 but he was revived by a paramedic and an EMT who were nearby when it happened. Dieter referred to them as his guardian angels. He felt he was the luckiest guy in the world. On August 30, 2014 Dieter took Shadow for their afternoon walk, he collapsed in the park and was unable to be revived. Dieter is survived by his wife, Ann and his dog Shadow. He is also survived by Ann's extended family. He will be greatly missed by family, friends and neighbors. He has gone on to his eternal reward. May he rest in peace. Memorial Service will be Friday, September 12, 2014, 3:00 PM, Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 7577 West 80th Avenue, Arvada, Colorado. Memorials may be made in his name to Foothills Animal Shelter, 580 McIntyre Street, Golden, Colorado 80401. Please share your memories of Dieter and condolences with his family by signing the guestbook below.