Eric Evin Adamson

Eric Evin Adamson was born on July 24, 1964, in Terre Haute, IN. He was the third of four children born to Tom and Christina Adamson. He suffered the tragic loss of his father when he was only 9 years old, and it had a profound effect on his approach to life. Eric spent most of his childhood in Glencoe, IL attending public school and graduated from New Trier High School in 1982. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois where he attempted to become an Airforce pilot through the ROTC program but his less-than-perfect eyesight caused him to change course to build airplanes instead. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and began working for Boeing in Renton, WA on the 737 program in 1986. He took a sabbatical from Boeing to complete his Master of Science in 1990 at The University of Illinois. Throughout his career he worked in the aerodynamics staff on several variants of the 7-series family of aircraft and a variety of new airplane concepts ranging from the supersonic High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT), the Sonic Cruiser, and new commercial transports like the New Midsize Airplane (NMA). He was a respected expert in aircraft configuration development, wind tunnel testing, and supersonic propulsion integration across the aerospace community, both domestically and in Japan. Eric’s technical acumen was recognized by Boeing engineering leadership, and he rose to be the technical lead engineer of High Speed Aerodynamics in the Product Development group. Along with the technical challenge of leading a team of skilled aerodynamicists, he enjoyed mentoring new engineers and was well known for his effective, frank, but sometimes less than empathetic teaching methods. Eric held nine distinct patents addressing the many different technical problems he encountered across his career as an aeronautical engineer at Boeing. He stayed in the Flight Sciences organization for the remainder of his engineering career until retirement in late 2022. In his personal life, Eric married Susan Wagener in 1990. They moved to Newcastle, WA bought a house, a dog and started living the Northwest life. They took up mountaineering, hiking, camping, and skiing in the Cascades. Besides many trips back to the Midwest to visit family, they traveled to Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Hawaii before starting their family. Together they had two sons, Thomas and Conall, for whom Eric was a devoted father. He taught his children how to mountaineer and helped them learn how to sail, ski, and ride a motorbike. Being a kid at heart, Eric enthusiastically supported his sons’ birthday party ideas—including the CAD design and assembly of a wooden pirate ship with a plank to walk and sleeping cabin. And when he set up a zip line in the backyard, the boy’s friends liked it so much they asked to have their next birthday party at the Adamson’s house! A skilled woodworker, in 2001 Eric fulfilled his dream of building a timber frame home from scratch. He spent many evenings and weekends in the garage and driveway perfecting his mortise and tenon joints. After four months of hard work, the whole neighborhood watched as the large timbers were moved onto a crane truck and transported across the mountains for assembly. The cabin became his family’s beloved vacation home during school breaks, weekends, and for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays for years to come. He was eager to share his skills and show his sons how to use tools to build their own creative designs. Besides unique Pine Wood Derby vehicles like a pickup truck with a camper and motorcycle with a rider, he helped build a trebuchet and an air powered hot dog cannon. When the boys were in middle school and joined Bike Club, he made sure not to miss a single ride over five years, including the final weekend ride and camping trip on San Juan Island each year. Sadly, unbeknownst to his family and close friends, Eric battled privately with alcoholism for many years. While generally being composed and collected on the surface, eventually the detrimental health effects of continuous alcohol consumption caught up to him. His struggle with addiction was magnified during the isolation of the COVID pandemic and an extended work from home period. He attempted recovery programs twice in 2023, but his inherent stubbornness and pride in solving problems himself prevented him from seeking the level of support he needed for sobriety. Unfortunately, Eric lost his battle with alcoholism on July 10th, 2024, just 2 weeks shy of his 60 th birthday. He is survived by his mother, three siblings, many nieces and nephews, his two sons, his dog, Katt, and lifelong partner, Susan. He is greatly missed by his family, friends, and business colleagues, and his impact to their lives will not be forgotten. A Celebration of Life will be held from 11 am until 1 pm on Sunday, September 22 nd , 2024 at Newport Hills Swim and Tennis Club in Bellevue, WA. We are creating a “Good Parts Version” memory timeline for Eric’s Celebration of Life. Please share how Eric contributed to your life so we can add it to the timeline. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Methow Conservancy at https://methowconservancy.org/get-involved/donate Or the Methow At Home program at https://methowathome.clubexpress.com”

Eric Evin Adamson

July 24, 1964 - July 10, 2024