Gideon Pete Serbu

Gideon Pete Serbu passed away on December 27, 2025. He was born in Lorain, Ohio, on August 24, 1925. Pete was a scientist, an inventor, a handyman of all sorts, a Potomac River boatman, and a lover of flight. His love and commitment to his family were deep and strong. He lived his century in service to our country and in the formation of NASA. He was an independent thinker who wasn’t swayed by others' opinions.

For the past five years, Pete lived at The Lodge at Old Trail, a senior residence in Crozet, Virginia, near his daughter Diana. The 70 previous years he spent happily with his wife, Eleanor, and family in the house he and his brother, Nick, built by hand from "rammed earth" in Accokeek, Maryland, in a wooded subdivision called Calvert Manor. After losing his wife 19 years ago, he remained in his home near his sons until he moved to Crozet.

Pete was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor Majesky Serbu, his sons, Phillip Serbu and Michael Serbu. He is survived by his daughter, Diana (Scott) Boven; his sons, Peter (Connie) Serbu and Anthony (Sharon) Serbu; his daughter-in-law, Cinda Serbu; and his granddaughter, Rebecca Serbu.

His Romanian ancestors came to America in the early 1900s for a better life and work in the steel mills of Lorain, Ohio, where Pete grew up. In World War II, Pete enlisted in the Army Air Corps (the earliest Air Force) and trained as a bomber navigator. Afterwards, he met his wife and attended Ohio State University on the GI Bill, obtaining a degree in physics. He was promptly recruited by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC, in a select group of physicists who collaborated on space science research, satellite tracking, and communication development, leading to our GPS systems. In 1957, he was transferred to the newly formed NASA, created in response to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. He spent 30 years at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, developing tools for geophysical observations and deploying them on rockets launched from the Wallops Island Facility on the Eastern Shore. He traveled to Japan to present his research and share the progress of NASA experiments.

Near the end of his life, Pete was quiet, friendly, most accommodating, and very appreciative of the multitude of people who helped him. The Serbu family owes a great debt of gratitude to all of them--at The Lodge, Trinity Hospice, and to friends who faithfully visited him.

A private event was held at Panorama Natural Burial in Earlysville. If you knew or loved Pete, please think of him each time you use GPS in your car or smartphone. He'd enjoy that. His scientific work of the 1960s laid some of the foundations for the everyday tools we now use.

Arrangements are entrusted to Batten Funeral Home of Ruckersville, Virginia.

An online guestbook is available at www.battenfuneral.com for those wishing to share memories or offer condolences. Your kind words will bring comfort and strength to the family during this time.