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Bret Knapp, 56, a Livermore native who became a senior manager at both Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories, died last month after a short but valiant battle with cancer. Knapp is survived by his wife, Sheryl, and two sons, Cameron and Trevor. He is also survived by two brothers and a sister.
Born Aug. 21, 1958, in Livermore , he was the son of Dr. Myron William Knapp and Dorris Riggs Knapp. Myron was the first test director at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting nuclear tests in the atolls of the South Pacific as well as the Nevada Test Site. Dorris was passionate for public service and education, breaking down gender barriers in rising to superintendent of the Livermore public education system. As a child, Bret had a keen interest in athletics, eventually playing goalie for the San Luis Obispo soccer team. Early on he was drawn to the field of engineering through his passion for working on cars, most notably his vintage Porsche 914-6 and Chevrolet Camaro.
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Karen Stringer (Dunn)
I remember the Knapps. Im very sorry to hear that Brert passed away. He will be missed greatly.
Ken Nunez
I was very saddened back in late 2014 when I heard Brett passed away. It was probably a good decade prior when we last spoke via the phone when I was contemplating moving to New Mexico. In the mid-90's his older brother Corey was my manager at Sandia Labs. When Corey became a director overseeing the weapons programs at Sandia in New Mexico, I thought it was a rather wonderful situation to have both brothers overseeing the weapons programs at both labs (Sandia and Los Alamos)... and both being from Livermore.
Brett was such a personable fellow, and I really enjoyed playing baseball with him when we were younger. I really thought he might have had a chance at being the latest LLNL director... especially after he was called to be the acting director in early 2014.
He will be missed.
Tracy Blomgren
Brett Knapp in addition to being a fellow LHS alumnus was also a fellow Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo alumnus. Fall 1976 (first quarter in school) I took a chemistry lab class with him, where the instructor no less was also a graduate of LHS.
Small world.