Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Bazar
June 20, 1923 - June 29, 2021
Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Holohan and her twin brother William were born in Rankin Pennsylvania in 1923 to a machinist father and homemaker mother. She had two younger siblings, Walter and Connie, both born in 1925.
Her family was of Irish, German descent and spent Betty's formative years in the Rankin area. Betty grew-up during the Great Depression as part of the Great Generation that endured the horrors of Pearl Harbor's bombing and the Second World War (WWII).
Betty met her first husband, Harvey Paul Bazar, at Rankin High School. At age 21 Betty moved to New York to marry Harvey, only to soon bid farewell to her navy ensign husband who deployed to the WWII Pacific Theater, while Betty remained at home, pregnant with her first child, Paula.
When WWII ended and Harvey returned from the war, the couple moved to California in 1946, settling in the San Fernando Valley. Betty's second child, Dennis Bazar, was born in 1948.
Betty's husband worked for an aviation company in Burbank for 14 years. In 1961, the couple started an aircraft antenna company in their Northridge home's garage. The company, Sensor Systems, Inc., manufactured communication and navigation antennas for commercial and corporate aircraft, with the Boeing Company their biggest customer.
Their company grew over the years and eventually became one of the biggest suppliers of antennas to the major airlines. Only four short years after the inception of their company, Betty's husband Harvey passed away. A family meeting was held where Betty's brothers-in-law suggested she sell the company. Instead, Betty took the helm, becoming the President and CEO of Sensor Systems, Inc.
In 1971 Betty purchased property in Chatsworth to accommodate the continued success and expansion of the company, and with the help of an architect, designed the 70 thousand square foot manufacturing building called Sensor Systems, Inc., a far cry from its humble start in their backyard garage.
In 1972 Betty met, hired, and eventually married her second husband, Seymour Robin. Together, they built Sensor Systems, Inc. into a world class corporation. Betty continued as president of the company until her death in 2021 at the age of 98.
Betty was an amazing woman and entrepreneur with a keen sense of business. She was kind and generous, with a wicked sense of humor. She and her husband Seymour travelled the world, making friends wherever they went.
Betty's legacy lives on in the Mary E. Bazar-Robin Foundation which she founded and is now run by her family. Her foundation supports various aviation museums and two scholarship programs, at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles and the University of North Dakota. The Foundation supports various children's hospitals and cancer centers and the American Red Cross.
In 2018 Betty received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of North Dakota.
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