Kenneth H. Faller:
Engineer, Manager, and Developer of Satellite Systems
Ken Faller, who lives in San Mateo, California, with his wife of 50 years, Jane Faller, attended Newman from kindergarten through twelfth grade. He recently got in touch with me because he wanted to share the story of his father’s bravery during World War II.
Like most of our fathers, his father, Harold E. Faller (1924-2000), did not talk about his war experience (at least not seriously), but as a child, Ken played with the souvenirs he brought home: his medals for bravery, a mysterious bullet, and even a napkin from the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s hideaway.
During World War II, Ken’s father was in the US Army as a Private First Class and
fought in the Battle of the Bulge. As Ken put it, he was “a grunt.” He walked
behind the tanks in Patton’s army as they moved in to rescue the 101st Airborne
Battalion, which was surrounded by the German army. He was commended for
unusual bravery in calling in artillery strikes on his own position, and at some
point he was wounded. While lost behind enemy lines, he and fellow soldiers
captured a local German headquarters. At the conclusion of the European war,
he also was involved in capturing Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s hideaway.
Eagle's Nest
GIs celebrating at Eagle's Nest.
When the film Saving Private Ryan was released in 1998, Ken and his parents
went to see it, with his father going along only very reluctantly. During the movie, his mother asked his father if the movie portrayed the war realistically, suggesting that the movie might have been exaggerated. He replied that the actual war “was far worse.” He also told his wife and Ken, for the first time, that most of the people in his company had been killed. Ken now assumes that the mysterious bullet might have been his father’s bullet from being wounded. Harold Faller received a Purple Heart (for being wounded), a Bronze Star Medal (for heroic service), and a Silver Star Medal (for gallantry in action). After the fighting ended he served as an MP at a location in Arkansas for returning soldiers, where he dealt with soldiers with PTSD.
Before the war, Ken’s father was enrolled at LSU, but had been a poor student, according to his LSU transcript, Ken said. After the war, however, his father attended Tulane and graduated with a degree in engineering with excellent grades. One of his classmates in the engineering program was David Weisler’s uncle, Harold Rosen, the developer of Syncom, the first geosynchronous communications satellite. Harold Faller went on to have a successful career as a mechanical engineer, having formed his own company. He was responsible for many projects in New Orleans and across the southeast, including HVAC projects renovating Charity Hospital and, interestingly, a new reptile facility at the Audubon Zoo.
Ken looks back on his Newman education in a very positive light. Newman
provided many opportunities to develop his passion for science, and at the same time he was “forced to learn communication skills.” He mentioned that he is mildly dyslexic (never diagnosed) but that some of his grandchildren have more serious learning issues. In the second grade Ken designed a rocket to go to the moon. His science projects with Mrs. Dyer and Mr. Behrend led to his building a laser and winning multiple awards in biology and physics, including two Ford Future Scientist of America Awards and US Navy and US Air Force awards. After learning that his father had participated in the Battle of Bulge, he wrote a paper on the subject for a class he was taking from Mr. Cernicek. He truly loved his courses with Mr. Behrend, especially the enriched physics curriculum that focused on how the revolutions in physics over the millennia were not isolated events, but were consistent with changes taking place in all areas of society and human thought.
A three-generation Duke Family, attending an event at Duke and celebrating 50 years since the Faller family started there. From the left, Ken's son Mike, grandson CJ, Ken, granddaughter Sarah, and Jane. Mike graduated with a degree in physics from Duke, like his father. At the time of this photo Sarah was a senior at Duke and has now graduated with a degree in computer sciences. Their daughter Liz also graduated from Duke but wasn't on this trip. She studied French and Japanese language, literature, and history to create a mjor called Comparative Area Studies.
Ken selected Duke University for college because it promised a well-rounded
education, as opposed to being narrowly specialized in science. He felt that he
would never take the range of non-science classes he felt he should have if they
weren’t required. He played in the marching band at Duke all four years, and he
even took a course in public speaking in his senior year. He majored in physics at
Duke, and later he earned an MBA at UCLA in 1988. After almost 30 years of
research using remote sensing satellite systems and developing them, at NASA
and Hughes Aircraft Company (where he worked for Harold Rosen), he shifted his career into marketing integrated with technology and management.
Historic moment: Ken in 1983 on the right briefing the astronauts of STS-7, Sally Ride, John Fabian, Fred Hauck, and Norman Thagard. The satelllite Palapa B1, barely visible here, was assembled by Ken's team at Hughes Aircraft and launched by these astronauts on STS-7. It was the first commercial satellite launched on the Space Shuttle on the flight where Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
At this point his communication skills, developed at Newman and Duke, became
crucial in navigating the business and cultural world with clients around the world,
and especially in Japan. He and Jane lived in Japan for six years, where he led the
development of computer and communications systems to support satellite
systems and then, working for Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), served as the interface
between the Japanese government customer and the factory on a program to
design and manufacture a satellite to provide communication services for air
traffic management and remote sensing for weather observation. He described
their years there as very enjoyable, and he loved the challenge of constant new
learning. When he returned to the US, he was appointed the Executive Director
to manage the manufacture, launch and on-orbit commissioning of a second
satellite for the Japanese government.
Ken with his last satellite, MTSAT-1R. It orbits at 22,200 miles up, at which the orbital rate matches the Earth's rotational rate so that it essentially stays in position
over the same spot on the surface of the earth. This is called a geosynchronous orbit.
After retiring, he consulted on engineering and business for satellite systems in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. He led a US Air Force study for SS/L to develop concepts for a new type of weather satellite system that would be based on a government-industry partnership. Now fully retired from a long, successful career in engineering, satellite systems and enterprise development, Ken describes his professional work as devoted to problem solving or finding creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.
In their retirement, Ken and Jane have enjoyed traveling, primarily in southeast
Asia and in Europe. Fitness is very important to both of them, and during the
pandemic while their gym was closed, they did yoga together every day. Ken likes
to use his creativity in cooking dinner and sometimes posting his creations on
FaceBook. They have two children, both of whom work in the financial field in
New York City, and eight grandchildren living on the East and West Coasts and inSingapore.
Ken and I had a lengthy conversation about World War II and our Newman class
of 1967. I asked Ken for his thoughts on how our fathers’ survival of battles
where the odds were very much against them might have affected them and our
class. He commented that our fathers wanted the world to be a safer place for
us; they wanted to be good role models; they wanted to pass on the lessons that
they learned. He hypothesized that their survival might be related to the ability
to respond very quickly to unpredictable situations. We additionally wondered
together whether having excellent visual-spatial skills allowed them to navigate
challenging and shifting environments successfully both in war and peace.
Ken believes the war affected his dad in many ways, including increasing
confidence and motivation. Victor Frankl’s term, “survivor responsibility,” seems
to fit well for Harold Faller, who made the most of every day when he returned
home from World War II. His father was the first person in his family to attend
college. Ken described his father as loving, gentle, and compassionate, and he is
very proud of his father’s accomplishments. Even though his father did not talk
with him directly about his war experience, Ken grew up with an awareness of his courage and sense of responsibility to others, both on a personal and community basis.
Ken and Jane set up a Scholarship Fund at Newman in recognition of his parents
and their appreciation for the importance of top-quality education. The
scholarship is for students from underserved communities at the elementary
school level, reflecting Jane’s lifetime career in working with underserved
students in independent schools and his parents’ inclusive love for the New Orleans
community.