In December 1997, I had the wonderful privilege of meeting an electrical engineer who worked for the Intel Corporation in the Philippines. I found his knowledge and enthusiasm of the electronics industry to be as exciting as the energetic and glowing smile he would emanate daily throughout his career.
Even more of a privilege was the opportunity to work and collaborate with such a conscientious, self-motivated and committed individual that it is no surprise, he became one of the greatest contributors in helping our company to develop a risk mitigation test program for electronic components that helped detect counterfeit electronic distribution from the Asian Pacific rim.
This outstanding engineer was Edgar Alfaro Usman who passed away on January 20, 2020 in Paterson, NJ.
Edgar was born on August 20, 1964 to parents Primitivo Usman a carpenter and Arsenia Usman a housekeeper. Edgar was the 2nd eldest of 5 children. He began his education at San Pedro Elementary School in San Simon Pampanga Philippines where he finished top in his class. He then attended Assumpta Technical High School also located in San Simon which was run by the Religious congregation of the Assumption which has also a community in the United States. This is where his character was formed studying his Catholic education as well as his technical specialty… "Electronics"
There Edgar excelled in Mathematics and Science particularly Physics as he graduated in 1981 with top honors. He also earned a full college scholarship to De La Salle University in Manilla where he was the sole student in his high school class who passed the qualifying exams. De La Salle University is regarded as the best university in the Philippines where mostly only the affluent and wealthy attended. Edgar was able to study and finish his Bachelor of Science in Electronics Communications Engineering (ECE) in 1985 and immediately began working for the Intel Corp in Makati City in the Philippines.
At Intel, Edgar developed his technical skills which was committed to maintaining quality and efficiency. His strong motivation and enthusiastic creativity brought him to the United States where he began working for Power Conversions Inc. in Elmwood Park NJ from 1989 to 1997. At Power Conversions, Edgar gained extensive experience in battery quality and environmental testing. He developed tests milestones on military projects, referred quality problems to manufacturing and also developed a familiarity of quality systems and various military specification standards.
On December 3rd 1997, I had the pleasure of hiring Mr. Usman as a component test and quality engineer. Our independent laboratory screens and qualifies electronic component products for the military, aerospace, industrial and medical industries. Edgar began writing electronic test software and assembling test hardware while performing failure analysis and developing reports.
At the beginning of the millennium in year 2000, Edgar was promoted as NJMET’s Quality Engineering Manager. Edgars incredible contribution to our company included the re development of our quality department for ISO Certification which was accomplished in June 2001.
One of my fondest memories with Edgar was exhibiting at the DMSMS Diminishing Manufacturers Conference in Hollywood, Florida. This was one of the year’s biggest electronics conferences which was affected by travel due to the harsh weather in the north east coast at the time. Edgar was determined to help our company exhibit. While storms in the north east were hindering travel to Florida, Edgar found a way to drive to Cleveland, Ohio to avoid the storm and flew into Florida safely so that we can begin our exhibit on time.
While managing the quality department for our company, Edgar’s insight, experience and contribution helped NJMET Inc to develop its patented risk mitigation counterfeit component detection program named MISSION:IMPOSTER. This endeavor went on to aid and assist several industries including the military and aerospace to develop more robust specifications and procedures in order to mitigate the risks of counterfeit component distribution which plagued our industries.
NJMET’s Director of Engineering John Lauermann remembered a time when he and Edgar drove to New Hampshire for operations training on a complicated piece of test equipment. “We drove up and stayed at a local hotel. The next morning we went to the training session which ended around 3:00 pm. Because it was too late to get back to NJ, we stopped in Massachusetts and stayed overnight at one of the local hotels.
We were hungry for dinner and discovered that one of the country’s top 10 seafood restaurants was nearby. Edgar made the reservations and after an enjoyable dinner which included appetizers ,cocktails and desert, the bill came. Surprisingly, I looked at it and said “Edgar, don’t you think you’re going get into trouble putting this on the company credit card ?”.. Edgar replied ,“ don’t worry John…….I’m telling our boss it was all your idea “.…recalled a chuckling Mr. Lauermann. Edgar always loved a good laugh.
On July 11, 2020, Edgar’s ashes were interred at the ASCOM Memorial Park in the town of Apalit, province of Pampanga, Philippines. For the response of the family, Edgar’s youngest brother, Arnel Usman who works as a university professor, thanked everyone who attended Edgar’s interment as well as those who gave messages in his eulogy. He recalled how Edgar showed endearing love for his family by being the bread winner for many years and how he helped his nieces and nephews financially with their education in earning college degrees. Arnel added “ Edgar helped even those he did not know personally like sending money to poor children in the community who could not afford to go to school.”
Truly, Edgar lived a meaningful life. He touched the lives of many people and helped the electronics industry with the wealth of his knowledge. He will be always be missed.
Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge and thank Edgar’s brother Arnel Usman for his help in the collaboration of this memoriam and his participation in the celebration of Edgar’s life at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City earlier this year. Special thanks is also extended to NJMET Director of Engineering John Lauermann for his memorable input.
