Miles L. Loyd Nov. 5, 1932 — May 28, 2022

From the article
https://www.independentnews.com/obituaries/miles-l-loyd/article_e503d1a6-f290-11ec-af9d-47265c2bfe31.html

On Sunday, May 28, 2022, Miles Loyd, loving husband, father and grandfather, passed away at the age of 89. A memorial reception will be held at Asbury Methodist Church on July 2 at 11 a.m.

Miles was born on Nov. 5, 1932 to Talmage and Velma Loyd in Winona, Missouri, where he lived until the family moved to San Francisco during World War II. Upon graduation from Mission High School, he joined the Air Force and served in the Korean War.

After returning from Korea, he met Jackie Sawyer of Monroeville, Alabama. They married there and then moved to San Francisco, where Miles attended City College and, later, UC Berkeley. After earning a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, he worked for Fairchild Semiconductor in San Jose, California. In 1964, he took a job at the Livermore Lawrence Laboratory, where he worked until he retired in 1989. Miles had a life-long interest in aeronautical engineering and was awarded patents in wind energy production. In the 1970s, he used a homebuilt SOL-20 computer to calculate the energy that might be produced from airplane-shaped kites. Based on that work, he published the article “Crosswind Kite Power” in the Journal of Energy in 1980. Smithsonian magazine featured Miles’ work in a June 1982 article on new uses for kites. In 2010, Miles was honored at Stanford University by the Airborne Wind Energy Consortium as the Innovator of the Year for “outstanding achievements advancing airborne wind energy technology.”

Miles also enjoyed sailing and hiking at Lake Del Valle, photographing wildlife, windsurfing on San Francisco Bay, traveling in Japan and Mongolia and exploring the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. Miles is survived by his wife, Jackie; his two sons, David (Hiroko) and Stephen (Yuko); and his grandson Michael.

Memorial gifts can be made via donations in Miles Loyd’s name to Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center at livermorearts.org/membership.

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