Theodore Eisen, engineer, executive

Theodore Eisen, 87, a former executive with the Air Safety Foundation in Washington, died of complications from dementia on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Wiley Christian Retirement Community in Marlton.

In the 1980s, Mr. Eisen was vice president of research and planning for the foundation, an arm of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

According to an article in the association's magazine, Mr. Eisen and his staff researched noncommercial aircraft accidents to help aviation manufacturers improve their products.

He was a member of "numerous industry committees that developed standards of performance for airborne equipment," the article said.

Before joining the foundation, Mr. Eisen was the lead engineer on the first transistorized automatic pilots for commercial aircraft.

A daughter, Deborah Stefanek, said he shared a 1962 patent for the autopilot device with the Bendix Aviation Corp., for which he was working at the time.

Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Eisen grew up in the Bronx, graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, and was a Navy electronics mate at the Great Lakes (Ill.) Naval Training Station when World War II ended.

He returned to New York City and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering at the City College of New York in 1949.

After working as a TV repairman because of a shortage of jobs in his field, his daughter said, Mr. Eisen began his engineering career with the former Teterboro, N.J., office of Bendix in 1952.

In 1969, Bendix transferred him to its Fort Lauderdale, Fla., operation, where he earned a master's degree in business administration at what is now Nova Southeastern University in 1980.

In Florida, "he worked on the development of the automatic pilot," before retiring from Bendix in 1982 and going on to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, his daughter said.

"He was extremely family-oriented," she said. "He could have gone further in his career, but he didn't want to move the family around the country."

In addition to his daughter Deborah, Mr. Eisen is survived by his wife, Beatrice; sons David and Jeffrey; daughter Jody Stansbury; nine grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Visitation was set for 9 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Berlin Rd., Cherry Hill, before a 9:30 a.m. funeral there, with interment in Beth El Cemetery, Paramus.

Donations may be sent to Congregation M'Kor Shalom at www.mkorshalom.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.plattmemorial.com.