Tor Juan Liholt

Durham – Tor Juan Liholt, age 94, died at home in Durham, North Carolina on Saturday, January 13, 2024. He was born on Monday, August 12, 1929 to the late Hjordis Ricarda Liholt and Hugo Liholt.

Tor J Liholt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in young adulthood moved to the United States to pursue school in building and fixing televisions. Not long after arriving, he was drafted to the U.S. Army where he spent most of his time in Germany. After serving for almost 2 years and Honorably Discharged, Tor did not return to Argentina as expected, yet continued his education at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering June 9, 1965. Tor settled in New York and continued his career in Engineering and traveled for special projects to include satellite engineering and communications for the Olympics in locations such as Seoul, South Korea and Barcelona, Spain. After retiring in 1994 from Satellite Transmission Systems as Principal Engineer, Tor and his wife retired to North Carolina, where he volunteered at a planetarium as an engineer and tour guide.

Tor in his younger years played the clarinet and loved and was influenced by swing music and the Big Band Era and artists like Benny Goodman. He played tennis and was a swimmer as well in his younger years. Tor enjoyed traveling as well whether for work or pleasure with trips to Saudi Arabia, Spain, back to Argentina, Brazil and of course, to Norway, where his family descended from. He also enjoyed reunions with childhood friends from Argentina in different parts of the United States. As an engineer at heart, Tor enjoyed exploring new technology, working on the furniture that did not sit right or an added fix to the light fixture and kept his tools close at hand for the next project. He enjoyed time spent in his retirement days with his wife of almost 50 years together and always looked to take care of her. Although not very open about his emotions, Tor made you feel welcome and enjoyed spending time with friends and family, and a toast over a glass of wine.

Tor Juan Liholt is survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Raquel Liholt, and his children son Eric Liholt of Pennsylvania, son in law Jerry Van Riper of Nevada, daughter Wendy Andrea Killeen and husband Michael Killeen of Virginia and daughter Sandra Liholt and husband Stephen A Lineberry, Jr. of North Carolina along with his beloved grandchildren Alex, Matthew, Rachel and Angelina. Tor was preceded in death by his former spouse Olga Roces and daughter, Karen Andrea Liholt

Celebration of Life will be held at a future date to follow

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to US Veterans Association and/or St. Judes Children’s Hospital

The Liholt family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service. Online condolences: www.hallwynne.com – select obituaries.