Elliot Cabrera, 76, of Downers Grove, a communications engineer whose work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation helped make President Ronald Reagan’s phone calls more secure, died of cancer Wednesday, April 3, in his home.
When a phone call Reagan made during a swing through several Midwestern states in the early 1980s was accidentally intercepted by an amateur radio operator, the FBI asked communications experts to help secure the president’s phone lines.
Mr. Cabrera, an engineer with Western Electric Corp. in Cicero at the time, was assigned to the yearlong project, which led to development of a highly advanced mobile communications systems. Mr. Cabrera was honored by the Department of Justice with an award and certificate of appreciation.
“He was always very proud of his work on that project,” said his daughter, Joan Brewer. “He knew at the time that he was a part of something very important to the country as a whole.”
While working for Western Electric in the early 1960s, Mr. Cabrera also helped create a series of radar stations in northern Alaska to protect the United States.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Mr. Cabrera was raised on Chicago’s South Side and graduated from Crane Technical High School, where he played football and ran track. At age 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served as a mechanic on several aircraft carriers in the South Pacific during World War II. He also later served during the Korean War.
Following World War II, he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was hired by Western Electric in 1951. He retired as a communications engineer with Lucent Technologies in 1990.
A devoted father of 12, Mr. Cabrera focused on family activities. He delighted in having his children join him at tennis or a jog around the block.
“When we were kids, he was always rounding us up for a game of basketball or loading us in the car to go for a swim,” Brewer said.
But Mr. Cabrera also found time for others, volunteering through his job as a Junior Achievement mentor and a first-aid instructor. He also served on the president’s advisory council at Illinois Benedictine College and was a board member at Queen of Peace Center, a retirement center in Lisle.
“He accomplished a lot in his life, but he never hesitated to lend a hand to those in need,” Brewer said.
Other survivors include his wife of 57 years, Peggy; four sons, Andrew, Philip, Patrick, and Michael; seven additional daughters, Carol Cabrera-Gomez, Louise Pomes, Mary Hoberg, Diane, Margaret Owen, Ruth Campos, and Therese Dryfhout; four brothers, Wally, Frank, Jim, and Peter; two sisters, Loretta Jaimes and Lee Lopez; 18 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Mass will be said at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Peace, 701 Plainfield Rd., Darien.
