Dr. Erik S. Saether

Thirty-year Yorktown, Va. resident Dr. Erik Sigurd “Ziggy” Saether passed away peacefully at his home on March 16, 2026. He was 69 years old. Dr. Saether was born in 1956 to Norwegian immigrants Kolbjorn Saether and Emily Eskedahl in Chicago, Ill. and grew up in the suburb of Wilmette. He earned undergraduate degrees in aerospace and mathematics for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a masters degree from UCLA, and a doctorate from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Saether worked as a research engineer at NASA for 25 years. Prior to that, he held positions at Northrup-Grumman and the Army Research Lab. During his career he authored or contributed to more than 80 publications. His primary topic of research dealt with material failures. His latest technical article will be published posthumously by NASA.
Dr. Saether was also a humor writer. HIs favorite pieces can be found on his blog at www.segwayviking.com. He was an avid amateur videographer, responsible for capturing hundreds of hours of vacations and family events with his camcorder.
Dr. Saether enjoyed travelling. He had toured most of western Europe, as well as a majority of the Caribbean. His favorite locations were Salzburg, Austria, anywhere in Italy, and his parents’ home country of Norway.
Dr. Saether is survived by his wife, Anne Racel, his sister and half-sister, two nieces, four stepchildren and two step-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held April 18th at 2 pm at Amory Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in his honor to the American Civil Liberties Union or St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital.