50 Year Resident of Santa Cruz

Born in Vancouver, Washington; Parents: Michael Patrick Moriarty of County Kerry, Ireland and Eleanor Macikas of Chicago, IL; He passed away at home after a brief illness surrounded by family and friends.

Gene was pre-deceased by his parents, his brothers Michael (Louise), Donald, Anthony and his sister Mary Catherine. He is survived by his wife, Frances Guerrero, daughter Avelina, son Martin and granddaughter Lily, his sisters Eleanor (Vince), Karen and Christine; his sisters-in-law Allenda, Gloria, Dolores (Greg), Sylvia (Jorge); and numerous nieces and nephews. He died at home with Fran, his beloved wife of 33 years, by his side holding his hand. Gene's first job at 5 years old, was a newspaper route with his brother and friend Tommy Griffin, which he held for at least 6 years. The young lads delivered newspapers with diligence and tenacity, even through the harsh Chicago winters! Following in the footsteps of his older brother Michael “Butch,” he received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Illinois Institute of Technology. His first engineering job, at McDonnell Douglas in Southern California, was developing control systems for the moon landing. He taught for many years in the Electrical Engineering Department at San Jose State University, where he was a tenured professor from 1975 until his retirement in 2017. His real passion and life-long study was philosophy. He published a book on the philosophy of engineering titled “The Engineering Project, Its Nature, Ethics and Promise,” and taught courses in Engineering Ethics and Philosophy at both SJSU and UC Santa Cruz. He was greatly admired and respected by his students and colleagues at SJSU, and he served the campus community as the sponsor of the Society of Women Engineers. Gene was the antithesis of the stereotypical math-obsessed and socially remote engineer. His personality was warm, humorous, witty, compassionate and kind. He was never known to speak disparagingly of anyone, and in fact, would often comment that “It’s our deficiencies that make us interesting.”

Besides philosophy, he was passionate about music of all types, but his all-time favorite was Pink Floyd. He hosted regular salons that drew together people from many different orientations and specialties, both inside and outside of academia. These gatherings were open to and accepting of a wide variety of styles of life, class and ethnic backgrounds, and political persuasions. A deeply spiritual man, and a lover of art and poetry, he wrote exquisite poems which, although not shared with the public, were very special and unique to the receiver.

He was an enthusiastic sports fan, especially football and basketball, and followed the Chicago Bears and San Francisco Warriors. He was also a life-long and avid reader of all sorts of books. He often gave books as gifts to friends and family members and would choose these with the particular tastes and interests of the recipient in mind.

He died just shy of his and Fran’s 33rd wedding anniversary. Gene very much enjoyed social gatherings, where he and Fran met at a holiday celebration. They shared a life full of the love of family and friends and supported each other in all their mutual and individual endeavors. Gene was devoted to his family. He loved his children very much and was very proud of them and loved being Poppa to his granddaughter Lily.

Most of all, Gene loved life in all its variety and complexity, and he stopped every day to admire the beautiful colors of the sunsets.

Friends may pay their respects on Monday August 26, from 4p.m. until 8p.m. at Benito and Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz, CA 95062. A vigil service will begin at 6p.m. at the chapel The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday August 27, 11:00 am, at Holy Cross Church, 210 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Holy Cross Cemetery in Santa Cruz.

A donation in Gene's memory may be made to Heartland Hospice or to a charity of your choice.