ABSTRACT
Born in Urbana, Ohio, Blackmer graduated from High Mowing School in Wilton, New Hampshire, studied radar electronics while in the U.S. Navy, and went on to do formal studies at both MIT and Harvard University. After graduation, he worked as an engineer for a number of companies, including Lafayette Radio, Trans-Radio Recording Studio, Epsco, HiCon Eastern, and Raytheon. He was also involved in the design of the telemetry systems for the Mercury space program. An inventor by nature, he held many patents, and went on to found three different audio electronics companies: dbx, Kintek, and Earthworks, with the first of the three being responsible for a number of major recordingtechnology breakthroughs. He was also a cofounder of Instrumentation Laboratory, a medical-electronics company. A hands-on engineering generalist with a love for precision sound recording and reproduction technologies, he was a longtime fellow of the Audio Engineering Society and a life member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
