Aerospace engineer Gerald Blackburn is guest speaker at historical society

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DOWNEY — Aerospace engineer Gerald Blackburn will be the guest speaker at the Downey Historical Society on Jan. 25 from 6-8 pm at the Barbara J. Riley Community Center.

Blackburn – a former project manager with the Boeing Corporation – has been in the aerospace industry for over 45 years; his career spanning the entire manned space program from the X-15 at North American Aviation to the Apollo, Saturn SII, Space Shuttle and International Space Station Programs.

He has taught at California State University Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Cerritos College, and has been an active member of several business and education advisory boards, including serving on the California State Department of Education Advisory Committee for Career Technology Education.

He also authored “Downey’s Aerospace History” by Arcadia Publishing.

Blackburn is a director of the Columbia Memorial Space Center Foundation and founder and past president and executive advisor of the Aerospace Legacy Foundation, developing historical preservation and outreach projects.

He was also the founder and CEO of Tinkers Corner LLC (a STEM education resource company in Southern California), and is now the CEO and founder of the Katherine and Gerald Blackburn Charitable Foundation and Trust.

Blackburn has an MBA from Pepperdine University.