Leroy Keranen

Leroy Keranen entered eternal life to be with the Lord January 28, 2026, after a short illness. He was born on December 9, 1940, in Marquette, Michigan, the son of August and Alina (Juntunen) Keranen.

He grew up in Nisula, Michigan, attended Laird School in Alston through the tenth grade, graduated from Baraga High School in 1957, and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Tech in Houghton in 1961. After graduation he moved to suburban Los Angeles and lived in Hawthorne (1961-66), Lawndale (1966-71) and since 1971 in Torrance. In 1971 his parents moved from Nisula to live with him until August passed away in 1988 and Alina in 1993.

He was employed by AC Electronics Division of General Motors in El Segundo (1961-67), designing electronic equipment for aircraft and missiles. From 1967-99 he was employed by TRW Space and Defense (now part of Northrup Grumman) in Redondo Beach, where he designed electronic equipment to control unmanned spacecraft for astronomy, communication, environmental monitoring, and classified missions.

He was an active member of St John Lutheran Church, Gardena from 1962 to 2014, where he was involved in many capacities, but mostly doing property maintenance and remodeling. Since 2014 he has been a member of First Lutheran Church in Torrance.

He was a do-it-yourselfer, had a workshop in his garage and made many improvements to his home. He loved to go day-hiking, alone or with companions, in the mountains and National Parks, especially Yosemite, Sequoia and Grand Canyon. He spent much time tracing his ancestry to the Kainuu region of Finland back to the early 1700s and late 1600s. He spoke enough Finnish to enjoy making three 4-week trips to Finland (in 1978, ’82 and ’96) and meeting very many distant cousins and their families. About three dozen have visited his home, especially while his parents were still living.

He never married and had no children. He was preceded in death by his parents and seventeen cousins and is survived by five cousins: Harold Juntunen of Livonia, MI; Francis Walli of Menomonee Falls, WI; Donna Albertson of Ashland, WI; Dean Hendrickson of Mead, CO; Wayne Christner of Westland, MI; and a multitude of younger-generation cousins. He is also survived by two godsons: Jason Hendrickson of San Rafael, CA and Jukka Moilanen of Helsinki, Finland, both of whom have visited him a number of times.

Leroy’s Memorial service will be at 11 AM PDT on May 2, 2026, at First Lutheran Church 2900 West Carson, Torrance CA. It will be streamed live at https://www.youtube.com/@FLCSLIVE/streams. And will remain on YouTube for several days @FLCSLIVE.

If you wish to honor his life, please donate to your favorite non-profit in memory of Leroy.