Rupert “RJ” Loeffler, 87, Stevens Point, died Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at the Portage County Health Care Center in Stevens Point.
A committal service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Wisconsin Veterans Home Chapel in King.
Visitation will be at Boston Funeral Home in Stevens Point from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Condolences may be offered online at www.bostonfuneralhome.net.
Mr. Loeffler was born April 17, 1925, in Milwaukee, a son of the late Rupert and Gertrude Loeffler.
He served during World War II as a Naval airman, flying TBM Avenger torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in the South Pacific.
As a post-war pilot, he was a pioneer aerial crop duster of the 1940s, flying a war surplus Navy N3N Stearman. Later he hired on as a “Freighter,” flying commercial cargo runs in the Midwest and Canada.
He was employed by Jimmy Lynch Death Dodgers Thrill Shows as a car and motorcycle stunt rider, appearing at county fairs, and he flew with the Navy Blue Angels. He also performed re-enactments of “Wild West” shoot-outs for tourist attractions in the Wisconsin Dells area.
He was later employed as a test rider and experimental engineer for the Harley Davidson Motor Co., and as an automotive engineer for the Studebaker Corp. of Canada. He also worked for the Ford Motor Co. as a proving grounds test driver. He owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle and an Evinrude outboard motors dealership.
Prior to retirement from the U.S. federal government, his employment included air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Agency, industrial engineer for the U.S. Army and civil engineer for the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Loeffler held engineer status with the Society of Automotive Engineers, the American Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Society of Military Engineers. He was recently honored by the Silver Wings Fraternity for holding an active pilot certificate for more than 50 years, having soloed in a Curtis-Robbin in 1942.
He pursued his hobby of trapshooting by traveling extensively throughout the lower 48 states, winning more than 300 shooting events, including seven Senior Veteran Championship titles for the states of Arizona, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Survivors include one daughter, Teresa Marie Lawrence; and four brothers, Lawrence, James, Donald and Gerald.
He was also preceded in death by one son, Michael; and one daughter, Paula Jean.
