Ottmar Hubert Dengel (1933 – 2024)

Ottmar Hubert Dengel passed away peacefully at his beloved home, Four Winds, on Monday, December 2, 2024.

Ottmar Hubert Dengel

He was born on September 14, 1933, in Kempten, Allgaeu, Germany, where he grew up with his three siblings, and attended the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Kempten, graduating in 1952.  During the tumultuous time at the end of WWII, he worked as a local farm hand until schools opened again in late 1945.  He studied physics at the Technical University of Munich, obtaining his Diplom-Ingeniuer in 1958.  He then embarked on a PhD program at the Laboratorium fuer Technische Physik and was awarded his Doctorate in Physics in 1962.

He was fortunate to meet his future wife, Gisela Harder, MD, in Munich when she was in need of his engineering expertise to fix her scooter. They were married in Andernach, Germany, on June 1, 1962.  After three years working as a research fellow at the Laboratorium fuer Technische Physik, he and his wife Gisela came to the United States in 1965 where he served as a Research Physicist with the United States Navy.  He worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center first in Indian Head, Maryland and then in White Oak, Maryland for 28 years in various research and management positions. He specialized in hydrogen generators, in regards to which he received 12 patents, as well as underwater explosives. Following his retirement in 1994 from the Navy he founded Royal Systems, a consulting company that focused on building partnerships between the US, German and other NATO naval research centers, which he operated until his final retirement in 2004.

His beloved wife Gisela passed away in 2002.  They had moved to Front Royal, Virginia in 1972 where she opened a Pediatrics Office on Browntown Road and where they raised their sons Tobias and Florian.  Ottmar had a deep passion for travel, including taking his whole family around the world and to every continent except Antarctica.  Having grown up in war time, he felt it critically important to expose his family to other cultures to promote common human understanding and tolerance. Friendships were very important to him and he remained deeply involved with his fraternity, the Algovia, throughout his entire life.  He had a special love of music, dancing and festivals and could regularly be found at small town Bavarian events, the Oktoberfest, acoustic bluegrass nights in Browntown, the Kennedy Center, as well as Carnivals and dances throughout the world including Rio, Buenos Aires, Cologne and Sevilla.

Ottmar is survived by his two sons Tobias and Florian, their wives Lynn and Lindsey, and six grandchildren that were the delight of his later years as “Opa”, Alexander, Lucas, Karolina, Willem, Max and Anna.

A true celebration of life will be held on Saturday, December 21, 2024 in Front Royal and in July 2025 in Kempten, Germany.  In lieu of flowers, Ottmar has requested everyone to have a dance in his honor.