Mark K. Howlett, a Pioneer in High-Tech Business, Dies
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Mark K. Howlett, a longtime Orange County businessman and high-technology pioneer who worked on the top-secret effort to develop the atomic bomb, died in his Newport Beach home Friday after a lengthy illness. He was 78.
Howlett received a chemical engineering degree from Purdue University at age 19 and moved to Orange County in 1954 to join Beckman Instruments.
During a business career spanning three decades, he co-founded Dana Labs, a firm that made test instruments and was the first commercial landowner in the vast Irvine Industrial Complex.
He was also a top executive at several high-tech companies, among them Polyoptics, EIP Microwave and Cushman Electronics.
Howlett is survived by his wife of 57 years, Jane, as well as five children: Samantha Johnson, a Denver computer consultant; Mark S. Howlett, an Orange County businessman; Larry Howlett, a San Jose computer systems salesman; Chris Howlett Bofenkamp, a Washington state schoolteacher; and Susan Howlett Furlong, an Orange County freelance writer. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren.
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