Industrial engineer worked on the Manhattan Project
Bertram Alan "Buddy" Colbert was a teenager when he worked on a top-secret effort that helped develop the atomic bomb.
Just out of high school, he didn't know the work he was doing for Cook Electric in Chicago was actually part of the historic Manhattan Project until after the bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945.
He just knew it was a secret government project, said his daughter, Pat Colbert.
"He was proud to be working for the government," she said. "He was a very patriotic person."
Mr. Colbert, 81, of Mundelein, died Friday at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after a short illness.
Mr. Colbert was born in Chicago. He was a direct descendant of William Brewster, a Pilgrim who came to America on the Mayflower in 1620.
He also was a descendant of Jean Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of King Louis XIV of France, and of George Ketchum, a surveyor on the Erie Canal and developer of the California aqueduct system.
Mr. Colbert never bragged about his family tree, however, his daughter said.
"We knew we had all these interesting family members, but he'd never splash it on the wall," she said. "He was very humble about it."
Mr. Colbert enlisted in the Navy toward the end of World War II. After being discharged in 1945, he worked under physicist Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago on the development of the cyclotron, the first atomic collider.
Mr. Colbert talked with his family about working on the Manhattan Project and with Fermi, his daughter said.
"He was very proud of being part of both of those projects," she said.
Mr. Colbert earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1950. He later worked at Price Waterhouse and then for about 18 years at Abbott Laboratories.
He retired in 1992.
Mr. Colbert was active in the Mundelein-area community. He was president of the Loch Lomond Property Owners Association, on the Mundelein plan commission and with the Fort Hill Historical Society.
He also was a member of American Legion Post 867 and the Disabled Veterans Association.
Visitation is set for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at St. Mary of the Annunciation Church, 22333 W. Erhart Road near Mundelein. A funeral Mass will be said at noon Saturday.
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Colbert's survivors include: his wife, Helen; his sister, the Rev. M. Martin Colbert; his son, Bruce; and three grandchildren.
Instead of flowers, contributions can be made to St. Mary of the Annunciation Church or the University of St. Mary of the Lake.