Francis (Frank) V. Wagner, a dynamic member of the community for more than 60 years, died of natural causes on the morning of his 93rd birthday, April 15, at his home in Pacific Palisades. Born in 1916 in New York City, Frank graduated from Regis High School in New York and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Manhattan College. He began his career in 1938 designing barges but quickly switched to the budding new industry of aeronautical engineering in 1944. That year, he moved with his wife, Ginny, to Southern California to help design the first jet fighter plane for North American Aviation. Subsequently, he worked on the X-15, which set world records. He moved his family to Pacific Palisades in 1947. Frank entered the computer field with North American Aviation, as this was one of the first industries to widely use mainframe computers to solve engineering problems. He eventually took the lead at NAA’s computer division. He also became one of the first adjunct instructors at UCLA to teach computer concepts to engineering students because nobody on the faculty had this knowledge. Showing his entrepreneurial spirit, Frank joined with four other individuals to create Informatics, Inc., a software company that grew to be the largest independent software company in the world before it went through a series of acquisitions. He was the senior executive vice president of Informatics, and served on the board of directors for many years. In the early days of NASA, Frank succeeded in placing Informatics in partnership with another computer vendor (IBM) for our space program. When Informatics was sold to a public company, he jumped at the chance to become an underwriter for Lloyds of London after it opened its doors to U.S. investors. Frank was virtually a prototype for today’s ‘change your career many times’ generation. He finally retired at the age 70 but remained active for another 20 years. In his community life, Frank was equally dynamic. He and Ginny were founding parishioners of Corpus Christi Catholic Church. When the Palisades Recreation Center first opened, he began coaching in the youth baseball association. His teams never won a championship, but ‘Daddy Wags’ was selected a number of times to coach an all-star team. Frank was committed to his Catholic faith, actively serving in his parish and beyond for many years as a lector, usher and one of the first lay Eucharistic ministers. He served on many committees at Corpus Christi and was a founder of its Legion of Mary. In recognition of his service and commitment to the Catholic Church, Frank was given a pontifical decoration in 2006: the Benemerenti Award. He was also elected as a Knight of Saint Gregory. An avid golfer and bridge player, Frank was also a voracious reader of books on a variety of topics even before his retirement. He enjoyed leisure travel and toured the world numerous times with his wife, Ginny, usually aboard a luxury ocean liner. He enjoyed good food and excellent wines and, together with Ginny, hosted monthly potlucks at their house for decades. Frank was predeceased by Ginny Wagner, his wife of 67 years, who died last October at the age of 92. He is survived by his three children: Trina Pate (husband Bud) of Pacific Palisades, and twin sons, Michael (wife Jolon) of Los Altos Hills and Frank (wife Karen) of West Lynn, Oregon. He also leaves behind six grandchildren and eight great-grandsons. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, at Corpus Christi Church. In lieu of flowers, please say a prayer for the eternal repose of Francis V. Wagner’s soul. His family hopes that in the spirit of Frank’s life and memory, someone will be inclined to ‘pay it forward’ by choosing to act charitably, contributing their time or talents to those in need.
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