David John Kranz

David “Dave” John Kranz was born in Ridgecrest, California on August 23rd, 1960 to Frank Kranz and Joanne Beltrandi. They lived at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, where Frank worked and would eventually move to Rancho Palos Verdes, Woodland Hills, Massachusetts and returned to Rancho Palos Verdes, California in 1975, where he attended Rolling Hills High School graduating in 1978.

Dave went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for college where he majored in Business. While there, he worked at Air San Luis, a small charter plane company. Dave graduated from Cal Poly SLO in 1983. After college, Dave was accepted into the Marine Corp Flight Academy but after failing his eye exam and turning down a position as a navigator, he went to work at Northrop Grumman in Pico Rivera, California. In 1989, Dave went to work at Allied Signal Turbochargers. Dave and Linda (Otera) married in 1990 and bought a house in Huntington Beach in 1991. While living there, they had their two children, Nicholas and Emiko. Dave took a position at TRW in 1996, and the family moved to Torrance in 1998. He spent the rest of his career at TRW, which later became Northrop Grumman, until he retired in March 2020.

The Kranz family has many fond memories of family trips to Kauai and Mammoth. Despite the pandemic, he and Linda went on many adventures; they traveled to Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley National Parks, as well as Colorado, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts, to enjoy time with extended family. Over the years, Dave and Linda also traveled to Japan, Paris, and most recently, to Italy, where they were able to visit the town Joanne’s family immigrated from. His love for adventure and caring for others lives on through his wife Linda, their children, Nick and Emiko, sister Kim, father Frank, and the many wonderful friends he’s made throughout his life.