John Lee Grasse was an engineer at Los Angeles television station KCOP-TV for three decades. He was hired as a cameraman in 1950 (when the call letters of the station were still KLAC), and was eventually promoted to Director of Engineering and Industrial Relations at the independent station.

Grasse was also known for having designed and built a mobile studio to better enable remote broadcasts. He called it “a self-contained color TV station on wheels.”

After earning his degree in mining engineering from the Wisconsin School of Mines, he landed a job with Lockheed, where he worked during the 1940s. He was hired as a radio flight technician and was later chosen as one of 28 engineers to participate in designing the first U.S. fighter jet.

Grasse died December 27, 2015, in Monterey Park, California. He was 102.