Michael William Slota, 59, beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, mentor and friend, passed away peacefully on April 12, 2018, at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle after a year-long struggle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.
Mike was born on September 27, 1958, to William and Patricia Slota in Edgewater, Colorado. Mike was the second eldest of six children. From the time he took apart his desk in his kindergarten classroom, he developed a keen, lifelong interest in how to build things and make them work. He was a lifelong student of science and technology, and could build or fix just about anything. He loved to share his knowledge with others.
At Neosho High School in Neosho, Missouri, Mike competed in the state wrestling tournament. Mike attended college at Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois, as a pre-med major. During college, he bought a Volkswagen Baja bug and rebuilt the engine for off-road racing.
Mike met the light of his life, Diane, at Rockford College. They married in Diane’s hometown of Chesterland, Ohio. With Meredith, their first child, they moved from Bristol, Vermont, to the Seattle area in 1980. Their second child Kevin was born soon after. The family made their home in Kirkland. Mike proved to be an excellent father and mentor to their children. Mike and Diane celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Europe.
Mike was born to design and develop and invent. Early in his career, Mike worked as a model shop machinist and manufacturing engineer at Heart Technology for ten years, helping design the Rotablator cardiac device, from early prototype through the clinical trial version, to the final stage of market release. Mike was named in several US patents.
With Diane’s help, Mike founded and operated his own machine shop, 4-D Precision Manufacturing, creating notable projects such as a five-finned prototype of the RAM accelerator projectile at University of Washington Aerospace Lab, and the development and production of a heart model to train cardiologists how to use the Rotablator.
Mike worked as senior manufacturing engineer for CombiMatrix Corporation, designing and developing machines to automate DNA microarray synthesis for medical diagnostics and for drug discovery. Mike mentored fellow junior engineers, and was named in several US patents. Mike made several trips to Germany and Japan to meet with clients on behalf of CombiMatrix.
Mike founded a consulting business, Slota Design, LLC. He consulted for three years, including prototype design of a mammography machine using PET scan technology for University of Washington Medical Center.
The culmination of Mike’s career was at Kymeta Corporation, designing and developing a mobile flat-panel satellite antenna. Mike’s influence helped shape Kymeta’s engineering culture and meet several key design milestones. Once again Mike mentored fellow junior engineers, was named on several US patents, and travelled to China to meet with vendors. When Kymeta was named as one of the top ten technology development firms in the Puget Sound region by Geekwire.com, Mike and Diane attended the gala celebration at the Museum of History and Industry, only to find that the Rotablator was featured in the Northwest Innovations exhibit at MOHAI. It was a double honor that evening!
In his leisure time, Mike loved fishing and crabbing on the beautiful waters of Puget Sound, and loved nothing better than to share his love with friends and family members. He also loved spending time with family and friends by camping and travelling around the northwest, target shooting, walking his dog at Marymoor dog park, and participating in the Men’s Group and other activities at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church.
Mike is survived by his wife of 38 years, Diane, daughter Meredith and son Kevin both of Seattle, sisters Barbara Longstreet of Gastonia, North Carolina, Robin Winkle of Monticello, Indiana, and Valerie Lyford of Roscoe, Illinois, brothers Mark Slota of Cedar Park, Texas, and Will Slota of Gig Harbor, his parents Bill and Pat Slota of Montague, Michigan, and many nieces and nephews. He was so proud to be the grandfather of two granddaughters, Madeline and Eileen.
Mike’s ashes are interred at Kirkland Cemetery. There will be a memorial service to celebrate Mike’s life on Saturday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m. at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland, with the Rev. Jim VanderWeele as celebrant. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to S.O.D.A. Serve Our Dog Areas or to EvergreenHealth Foundation Hospice Services fund.