Lee Root, genius with machines, loved a challenge

Lee Root, a genius at the machine lathe and the electric-discharge tooling machine, never met a challenge he didn't like.

Self-taught at Boeing and Chrysler and employed since the mid-1950s in supervisory and development roles at the Smith-Root and Blaser Die Casting firms, the Sammamish man combined an artist's vision and surgeon's precision.

He helped University of Washington researchers refine early kidney-dialysis machines in the 1960s.

He joined with his friend Al Moen to do tooling for new faucets under the Moen brand.

Then he helped partner Dave Smith create a portable electronic fish stunner - a new "LR20" model bears Mr. Root's initials - that enables fish researchers to examine fish in waterways.

To top it off, Mr. Root would retreat to his workshop to build fully functional and accurate 1:10-scale models of engines used in aircraft and automobiles.

He developed the miniatures at the request of Big Three automakers, but also for his own pleasure.

One of his favorites was an original, dual-overhead-cam, fuel-injected four-cylinder motor. He also built a miniature Model A Ford engine, a small-block Chevrolet engine and a seven-cylinder radial aircraft engine envied by internal-combustion-engine modelers the world over.

"Lee didn't just want to do things any other machinist could do," said son-in-law John Hopfauf of Issaquah. "He wanted to do what people said was impossible."

Mr. Root died last Thursday (June 1) of complications from a stroke. He was 81.

Born in Russia near Moscow, Mr. Root immigrated at age 4 with his parents to Seattle. He changed his surname "Rootovsky" to "Root," watched his father work at a steel mill, and grew up speaking Russian and English.

He graduated from West Seattle High School. He served in the Army, but was discharged to machine parts for B-17s at Boeing.

After World War II, he worked for Chrysler in Detroit. In the 1950s, he moved back to Seattle.

He worked for various firms until focusing on Smith and Blaser. He left Smith in 1971 when the firm relocated to Vancouver, Wash., but continued as a consultant.

"He helped me build a lot of products for fish conservation and also built products for Weyerhaeuser," said Dave Smith, president of Smith-Root. "He was a genuine genius when it came to machinist and mechanical work.

"But he also could kid around and use humor in a nice way, like picking nicknames for people."

Mr. Root's most prestigious awards were those won at the North American Model Engineering Society Expositions in 1994 and 1996.

Surviving are daughters Rhetta Hopfauf of Sammamish and Jean Winthrop of Seattle; son, Al Root, Seattle; sister, Ariadne Morris, Seattle; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Rose Root, died in 1988.

Services have been held. Donations may go to the American Cancer Society, 2120 First Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109.

Carole Beers' e-mail address is cbeers@seattletimes.com