This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Obituaries

CAT Scan Inventor Dies at 91

The long-time Palo Alto resident was instrumental in the development of the CAT-scan.


Benjamin Xavier Ventresca, a loving, devoted and engaged husband of Ann Ventresca for 70 years, died on Saturday, Mar. 16, 2013. He was 91.

Born Nov. 29, 1921, Ben fell in love with Ann while in high school in their home town of Cecil, PA and had a wonderful marriage. Together Ben and Ann both devoted their lives to raising their six children, beginning with the birth of Benita and Joan in Pennsylvania.

Ben and his three brothers served in the U.S. Marines in the South Pacific during World War II. After Ben returned from the war in 1945, he and Ann travelled to California and settled in Palo Alto. There their family continued to grow with the birth of Larry, Patrice, Greg and Jimmy.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After he arrived in California he joined the U.S. Weather Bureau as a meteorologist, until he joined Varian and Associates in 1955 as one of their first employees. At Varian, Ben was instrumental in the development of the CAT-scan. Ben developed his career in the Bay Area’s electronics industry as a manufacturing engineer, manager and director.

Following Varian, he joined Lockheed, Memorex, and Amdahl, where he contributed his keen engineering skills to product research and development. Ben was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal organization.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ben and Ann together built their log cabin home at Lake Tahoe to share many years of adventure and happiness with their family.

Ben is survived by his wife, Ann; their children Benita, Joan, Patrice and Greg; their grandchildren, Adele, Cindy, Galen and Alessandra; and their four great grandchildren. Ben and Ann's sons, Jimmy and Larry, preceded him in death.

Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2013 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 473 Lincoln Ave., Los Altos, CA 94022. Interment to follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 22555 Cristo Rey Dr., Los Altos.

This obituary has been provided courtesy of the Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?