Meeting Milt

Milton Kurtz is an amazing scientific mind and has lead a remarkable career, an important part of which we can never talk about. I can say he was known to many as laser man for his work in the field of optics. Milt was bestowed a rare honorary Ph.D. from Cambridge University for his contributions in the field of physics. His work at Spectra Physics lead to the introduction of the bar-code scanner, and his association with Al Shugart (the founder of Seagate Technologies) lead to advancements in optical-based computer storage devices. In my personal experience I have seen him consult on the development of early electron microscopes and on the Floptical disk drive.

Beyond his career, Milt is a husband, a father, a pilot, a gemologist. I call him my friend.

I met Milt in 1979. I was just 25 years old. I hadn’t known him for long, less than a year. I had an important question to ask him, but I was so intimidated and it isn’t every day you ask a father for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

It had all been planned out. I was invited for dinner. At the end of the meal, the girls (June and Kim) were to retire to another room so that I could ask him the question. But as the girls left the room I suddenly developed a lump in my throat, and as each minute ticked by I grew ever more nervous. To call it fear would have put it mildly. I was terrified.

I looked at him, and he at me. Two hours later I found myself still pondering the question. I heard a stir in the other room, probably the girls wondering if I would ever broach the subject. Later they told me they had been listening down the hallway of their Saratoga home the entire time. “I never thought he’d go through with it,” June would later say.

Finally, wrestling with my nerves I mustered the courage to clear my throat. Milt cast a faint smile, and I seized that moment to ask the question.

His face grew serious, and he began to speak in a deliberate way that sent shivers down my spine. “Michael,” he began, “I haven’t known you that long. And I don’t know if you can maintain my daughter in the lifestyle that she’s accustomed to. But I love Kim and I know she loves you. So, I will trust my daughter. But don’t ever hurt my daughter and don’t let her down, or…”

Well after 27 years I’m still here with all of my fingers and toes intact, so I think I’ve done an okay job in that department. The funny thing is I brought this story up to June this week who informed me that I did pretty well that night. Apparently it took Joe five dinners to ask Milt for Kristin’s hand.

But that’s another story!

-- Michael