Adam Monroe recalled how excited his father, David Monroe, was to help him on a project when he was in high school.
“Working on projects for school and helping as he made prototypes or mockups for his work were my favorite ways to spend time with my father. He had assembled a nice machine shop and that was the place,” he said, as he looked out to rows of mourners.
“Our biggest project was a solar project for my high school,” he said, recalling when his father showed him and his classmates how to build a solar car from the ground up.
David Monroe was a serial inventor, working on companies and inventions like the cellphone camera that helped usher in the world as we know it. But he would also use his tools and knowledge to help his children and his community.
“His hands-on encouragement profoundly impacted my life,” Adam Monroe said.
Family, friends and community members filled the Boeing Center Friday to honor David Monroe.
The 72-year-old was killed in a workplace accident at the Boeing Center at Tech Port on Sep. 19. Monroe was a lauded inventor, noted businessman and community pillar — he founded the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology in 2016.
His wife, Lorena Monroe, asked that the museum remain open in his honor.
“Please help me continuing this beautiful legacy and supporting education and changing lives, just like my husband did,” she told attendees. “He changed one life at a time, because he always believed that by changing one life, that one life will change many lives.”
He accumulated more than 50 patents and held leadership roles at multiple San Antonio companies, including Datapoint Corporation, a Fortune 500 company.
Multiple community leaders spoke at the ceremony, noting the importance of the SAMSAT, which welcomes more than 38,000 museum guests a year, hosts field trips, technology demonstrations and an after school program.
The museum was free to the public seven days a week.
“As a kid from the South Side, I never expected anything this nice to come here,” said Adriana Rocha Garcia, a former city councilwoman for District 4.
“All of the thousands of students who have gone through this house, David’s house, are now lit up,” said former Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “They will be ready to bring their own dreams to life, to make our world more connected, maybe a little less difficult.”
Cliff Zintgraff, the museum’s former chief learning officer, will take over as CEO.
“He had a gift. His parents knew this gift. That gift became technology. It became community impact. My life is far richer as a result of getting to work with him for 10 years,” Zintgraff said. “My commitment is that we at SAMSAT will carry this legacy.”
Several speakers noted the importance of religion and church in the late inventor’s life.
It was one of the things that motivated him, Lorena Monroe said. “Love, faith, joy and hope is my husband. Faith is what drives all of us.”
