Fueled by FDU

The space traveler hasn’t done too badly, considering that his high school guidance counselor said he should join the Army because he couldn’t get into college. Olsen planned to enlist in the Army and then join his father’s electricians’ union. His father persuaded him to try college, just for six months to see if he liked it. He enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson, and the six months led to the pursuit of three FDU degrees.

“I hardly made it out of high school and struggled to get into FDU,” he recalled. “Fairleigh gave me an opportunity to redeem myself, an opportunity for which I will always be grateful.”

Olsen developed lifelong friendships and credits several professors for their instrumental roles in his development, including Lee Gildart, professor emeritus of physics; Oswald Haase, retired physics professor and Olsen’s master’s thesis adviser; Ralph Hautau, retired physics professor; the late William Schick, former professor and chair of the electrical engineering department; Peter Walsh, professor emeritus of electrical engineering and former head of the physics department; and the late Ernest Wantuch, former electrical engineering professor.

In a broadcast from outer space, Olsen personally thanked his FDU professors for fueling his interest in space.

A few years ago, Olsen attended Gildart’s 90th birthday party, along with other FDU members including Peter Schaeffer, a lab supervisor in the School of Natural Sciences. Schaeffer was a graduate student when Olsen attended the University. He said Olsen has always been “very determined … He attacks a challenge and sees it through.” He added that Olsen, despite all his success and wealth, “really hasn’t changed much over the years except today he has a broader, more expansive view.”

Olsen said he is pleased that “the school is still open to a wide variety of backgrounds.” He grew up in a “pretty isolated environment,” and at FDU he was introduced to people and cultures from throughout the world. “It was really an eye-opening experience for me.”

Olsen added that the education he received at FDU enabled him to “compete with anybody, and that includes guys from MIT and Cal Tech. The lessons I learned at Fairleigh carried over throughout the course of my life.”

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Ridefield Park, N.J., Olsen moved to the Princeton area in 1972, when he joined RCA. He’s lived in the area ever since, and currently resides in Montgomery Township.

An avid country-and-western dancer, he also enjoys swimming, horseback riding and playing golf. In addition, he is a major history buff. He especially admires George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. “I also am interested in the Civil War and am active with the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee.”

Of all his accomplishments, Olsen said, “I am most proud of my two daughters, Kimberly Lapadula and Krista Dibsie, who have grown up to be wonderful adults and mothers. Professionally, I am most proud of starting two companies that had good technologies, were profitable and self-sustaining and ultimately realized high value and benefited many employees.”

When asked to place his trip to the cosmos in a historical context, he said, “Next to people like Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn, I am a really minor footnote in space. But I feel very privileged to be one of just a few hundred people to actually experience the wonder of space, and I think it’s important for me to share this with as many people as possible.”

Opening Page | A Stellar Journey
Preparing to Fly | Reaching Great Heights

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For a print copy of FDU Magazine, featuring this and other stories, contact Rebecca Maxon, editor,
201-692-7024 or maxon@fdu.edu.