Building Bell’s Legacy: Four Generations. One Family.

At Bell, innovation is in our DNA. We are always working to find a better way as we redefine the future of flight.

From Bell’s early years to today, the Kaiser family has been part of our company story. Steven Kaiser, a senior engineer and youngest of four generations of family serving Bell, unveiled the origin of the passion that inspired him.

Steven recalls hearing stories about the family trailblazer, Elbert Oscar Derry Berry, who started a career at Bell Aircraft in the early 1950s. He worked as a flight line mechanic during the height of Bell’s Huey production that followed the Vietnam War.

Not too long after Berry, Steven’s grandfather, Owen Kaiser, or Pop-pop, as Steven knows him, joined Bell.

“Looking back on it, he spent 37 years with the company and had the opportunity to work through various Bell milestones,” said Steven. After he contributed to the Vietnam Huey production line, Bell’s turbine integration work and V-22 nacelle efforts, Owen decided to retire. Yet to this day, Owen shares his deep-rooted passion for aviation and Bell with everyone around him.

Fast-forward to the years of AH-1W flight testing. Mike Kaiser, Steven’s father, found his niche in the field of flight testing. In the late ‘80s to early ‘90s he spent his time training pilots on the digital avionics in the new Cobra models.

“I will never forget the day that my Dad hovered over my house in an AH-1W and waved at me from the pilot’s seat,” Steven recalls. “I just knew his job was cool and that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.” A few years after Mike started at Bell, his brother David Kaiser, was also hired as a transmission bench test engineer.

As for Mike, he continued working at Bell for 21 years. During his tenure, he met his future wife Marie, who worked in Rotor Stress for six years.

Steven recalls the family connection between Marie’s father, Tony, and Mike’s father, Owen. “Tony worked at Lycoming Engines, while my grandfather worked at Bell. Come to find out Tony and Owen worked alongside each other on turbine projects before my parents ever met.”

With a family history deeply rooted in aviation and Bell, it comes as no surprise that the fourth- generation Kaiser has found his place at Bell. Steven draws his inspiration from the family members who served as Bell employees before him and continues to make his mark at Bell by leading aviation solutions that will benefit generations to come.  

Bell has a rich history of generational employees working together. Visit our Careers page to start your legacy.