April 20, 2018
Mike came to Yale from Lake Forest Academy and majored in Electrical Engineering while playing hockey and football for Trumbull College. After Yale he first pursued a career in electrical engineering, working on the Apollo Space Program at Cape Canaveral, the development of digital disc drives, environmental protection, and medical/surgical instrument design.
He held multiple United States patents. After his time in industry, he became a professor of Electrical Engineering at Colorado Technical Institute in Colorado Springs in addition to grading standardized tests for the state of Colorado.
Living in Colorado, he also was a bit player and technical expert for many local theaters in Colorado’s Front Range. He and his wife Debbie designed and built more than 100 sets for Longmont Theater Company, winning many local, regional, and national awards. Mike served as the Longmont Theater Company’s first technical director. In addition to training students in technical theater arts, Mike also coached little league and mentored as a youth role model. On the side, he drove a bus for Special Transit.
Mike sustained a spinal cord injury as a result of an accidental fall in 2015. From then until his death on April 20, 2018, Mike was in the full-time care of his wife Debbie as an incomplete quadriplegic.
Mike was survived by his loving wife of 40-years, Deborah Langer Zarich, who passed away just three months after him, a son, Michael J. Zarich; three daughters, Mina, Willow, and Kalyca Zarich and seven grandchildren. Mike was predeceased by sons Jonas and Abe.