Stanley Schlosser

Stanley was born October 8, 1932 in New York City. His parents Freda and Charles were immigrants from Eastern Europe, escaping persecution there. They established a small dry cleaning and alterations business, and Stan and his sister Dorothy spent their early years in Brooklyn, and the family then moved to Queens. Very early on, Stan had a natural talent for all things mechanical and eventually went on to study engineering, graduating from Purdue University with a degree in aeronautical engineering. During his college years, he was on the wrestling team, and earned some extra money playing saxophone and clarinet in bands in the Catskills. He also learned to ski which would become a lifelong passion later on. After college , he had a Porsche 356 convertible which he would sometimes race on weekends, but that ended after he got married and started a family and needed a practical car.

He married Norma Cohen in 1957, a girl from the Bronx that had caught his attention while on vacation in the Catskills. After marriage, they settled in Yonkers and wasted no time in starting a family, their children being born in 1958, 1960, and 1962. In 1959, he got a “temporary” assignment to come to Vandenberg Airforce Base to work on missile launchers, but once he and Norma got a taste of California living, they never went back. He eventually got a job with an engineering firm in Santa Barbara, and a few years later, he and a coworker started their own company, Spatial Data Systems, Inc. in Goleta making image processing equipment which they ran for many years before selling to a larger corporation.

After selling the company, he became “semi-retired", and ran a small business out of his home selling camera components for high-tech applications. During that time, he was doing a lot of skiing, and decided to pursue a second career as a ski instructor. In the early ‘90s, Stan and Norma purchased a condominium in Avon, Colorado, and spent many happy times there with Stan ski instructing at Vail part time into his 80s. During that time, he was also pursuing his lifelong love of music, playing clarinet in the Santa Barbara City College orchestra, and watching master classes at the Music Academy of the West. Also, during those years, he was a very avid bicyclist, and developed many lasting friendships with his cycling pals that continued until the end of his life. He would frequently speak fondly of his Sunday rides with the obligatory stop for coffee on the Mesa.

Norma passed away in 2015, leaving him heartbroken, and after a few years living alone in the family home, he decided to move to Valle Verde retirement community, where he had his own apartment. He made more friends there, and had a group of buddies that he played ping-pong with and ate dinners with, who remained friends until the end. In October, 2025, he had a significant decline in his health following surgery which required him to remain in the skilled nursing facility at Valle Verde, and there he made more friends

and was beloved by the staff. His family appreciates the care he received there. He passed away peacefully there on September 10 with Hospice care.

Stan is survived by his son Carl Schlosser (Jane), son Steven Schlosser, daughter Bonnie Schlosser, grandchildren Rachel Schlosser (Lauren), Jacob Schlosser (Nancy), Sadie Schlosser, Avery Rossi (Blake), Noah Schlosser (Jacey), greatgrandchildren Ryder, Raelyn and Rowen Rossi, and many friends.