Ira Richer Obituary

RICHER, Ira Of Boston's North End and West Falmouth, Mass, died peacefully at home, June 14th, 2009. Beloved husband of Kari-Lise Richer (Nilssen). Dear father of Mark and Elise, cherished grandfather to Harry, Lily, and Asher and to many nieces and nephews. Graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (B.E.E.) and the California Institute of Technology (M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering). Had a long and varied career in computer networking which included contributions to one of the fundamental protocols used in today's Internet. Also graduate of the North Bennett Street School in fine woodworking. Handyman, avid and skilled hiker and gardener, photographer, connoisseur of chocolate, ice cream, and inexpensive wines. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Mass General Hospital Development Office, c/o Oncology Dept and Dr. Lawrence Blaszkowsky, 165 Cambridge St., Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114. Services will be private. Memorial will be announced later. Boston Harborside Home J.S. Waterman & Sons-Langone 617-536-4110

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Published by Boston Globe from Jun. 16 to Jun. 17, 2009.

Memories and Condolences
for Ira Richer

13 Entries

Anne rowe

June 10, 2025

Remember him well

3/31/97 briefing for the vice-president

Brian Davis

November 3, 2009

I only just recently learned of Ira's passing. I am so sorry for Karilisa and the family. However, I am so glad I made the effort to contact Ira when in Boston in April of 2008. We had one more wonderful evening together. But then again, what else should I have expected from Ira. I am so glad we exchanged one last heart-warming hug upon parting. Thankfully, I think I can still feel some of the warmth of his soul from that hug if I close my eyes and concentrate......

He was the leader of the MAGIC project (magic.net) during the 90's. He was able to corral some of the leading minds and egos from around the country into a cooperative team which produced the leading fiber-optic network research application of the time. This was accomplished only because Ira's people skills and love of life exceeded his intellect. I am very indebted to him for my professional accomplishments. But they pale in comparison to the value I place on his friendship. I've always said the most important products of the MAGIC project were not the technical achievements, but rather the friendships we forged - which would not have been possible without Ira. Sadly, 3 of the 5 participants in the MAGIC briefing to vice-president Gore are no longer with us - Ira, Jay, Yvan. David Rush, if you read this, we need to talk.

Mike Maltz

June 24, 2009

I had written Ira earlier this year to see if he would be going to our 50th RPI reunion, since he was one of the very few classmates with whom I had kept in touch. When we left RPI to go to graduate school, Ira to CalTech and me to Stanford, I took the train from Brooklyn to Canal Street with my suitcases, loaded them into Ira's Plymouth, and we took off on Ira and Mike's excellent adventure. Neither of us had seen anything of the rest of the country, and we made the most of it, hitting as many national parks as we could.

Over our grad school years we met occasionally, in Pasadena, the Sierra Nevada, and the San Gabriel mountains. We continued our connection after grad school. I spent a year at the Technical University of Denmark, which he also did a year later. We both ended up in Lexington, Ira at BBN, me at Arthur D. Little, and started our families there.

After I moved to the Chicago area we lost touch for a while, but our families reconnected one Thanksgiving in Lexington. Over the next few years we managed to play handball in Boston, and a few years ago I (re)met Elise at the DC YMCA, where she was kick-boxing in one handball court and I was using another handball court in a more conventional way.

I don't have to tell anyone contributing to this guest book about how he was as a friend. I just wanted to add my voice to the others, so his children and grandchildren would have a sense of the type of person he was throughout his life.

Sam Sussman

June 22, 2009

Dear Lise and Family.

I was so sorry to hear of Ira's passing. Although it has been many years since we worked together at BBN, Ira was always such a joy to work with. He absolutely sparkled giving presentations on the advantages of packet switching as a communications technology. His fine sense of understanding what an audience needed to know and the unassuming way in which could explain the most arcane of technologies made listening to him an enlightening experience. However, beyond the technologies, which he had a hand in creating, Ira had a joy of life and love of family which would shine through in all circumstances.

Ira had left the NY area many years before I had met him, but one of Ira's great treats was the hot pastrami sandwiches from the Carnegie Deli that he would order when we were in New York. I would try from time to time to bring him one when I was traveling up from NY to Cambridge. If it was triple wrapped and I went directly to the airport, it would still be warm when I arrived in his office.

Ira will be truly missed. He was one of the all time "good guys."

Doug Hoder

June 19, 2009

I am so sorry to hear about Ira's passing.

Ira was a great guy. I only knew him professionally. Although he was obviously extremely intelligent, he was always charming and a great person to spend time with. I always enjoyed our conversations, no matter what the topic.

As they say, he will be missed.

Bob Sendall

June 18, 2009

Ira was more a brother than just a good friend. Not just because I was Ira’s “big brother” when he joined the Zeta Psi fraternity at RPI where we became roommates, but because after we graduated from RPI he became a part of my family.

Immediately after graduation Joan and I were married in Brockport NY (with a few Zetes in attendance to send us off) and drove to Los Angeles CA to start our life together in a small apartment. Soon thereafter Ira started on his masters degree at Cal Tech in Pasadena and became a regular guest as we started to play tournament bridge together. He would often spend the night on a hand-me-down daybed that was given to us by another Zete, Arthur Telech. After such a night Joan was always amazed how we would go over hand after hand that we had played the evening before, remembering every card.

While in this mode, a visit I particularly remember is when Joan was expecting our first child and I wanted to go to a Formula 1 car race with a few visiting Zetes and a local friend. Ira came over and studied so that he would be there if Joan needed to go to the hospital and I could take off for the day. He was probably better company that I anyway, with his infinite patience and steady humor.

As he continued at Cal Tech on his PhD he spent time with our young children and to this day they (and sometimes even Joan and I) call him Ra Ra which our daughter Debi named him when she had trouble saying Ira.

We had many good times together but one I particularly remember is a party held at Ira’s home in Pasadena (known as the AJ Sweeney house because he kept the phone listed under the previous resident’s name so that friends could look him up but when anyone called and asked for A J Sweeny he just hung up). I can still remember being surprised to see that Ira had located and invited Arthur Telech after they ran into each other on Mt Whitney. I also still remember the special desert. Ira had made lime Jello with only half the warm water called for and then added an equal amount of Gin; the surprise came as you took your first burning spoonful of Jello and whipped cream and then you watched others do the same. The experience was priceless and so like Ira.

After his PhD, Ira got a NATO scholarship to the University of Denmark to do post doctoral research on an electronic model of a nerve. I was fortunate enough to be sent to Paris at that time for a technical meeting and was able to stop in Copenhagen on the way home and visit Ira and his wife, Lise (who he had met in Pasadena when he was working on his PhD). Always down to earth it was great having them show me around and explain some Danish customs as we toured and visited Copenhagen and Tivoli.

Next they returned to Cal Tech for Ira to work in the cybernetics department doing research. I think this is about when Lise decided it was time for Ira to stop working on a Nobel Prize and get a job. So he went to work at Lincoln lab and they moved to Lexington. The rest of his career was on the East Coast and while Joan remembers Mark as a small baby our families grew up without any interaction.

You might think we would lose touch as we were all busy and far apart, but that was not the case. Joan and I visited them in Lexington and more recently I made it back to Boston a couple of times and got to visit them there, but I never made it to the Cape. His woodworking projects were amazing. Both technically correct for early American and unbelievably beautiful; true works of art.

Lise and Ira made it to our winter home in a little fishing village on the central CA coast. Ira and Elise visited us at our Tahoe home as they became acclimated for a one week hike in the High Sierra. Lise really enjoyed the trip to the coast in the winter since it was kind of like the Cape in the summer. For us it was always great to be with Ira and Lise.

The internet and email were a boon for us in recent years and also helped us stayed in touch. Our latest collaboration was on an Excel spreadsheet program to solve Sudoku puzzles.

Throughout, Ira and I had an ongoing running humor based on Steven Potter’s books on gamesmanship and life-man-ship. We were always looking for a one-up reply or mental challenge for each other. When Ira visited us at Lake Tahoe he noticed that I was studying Mark Twain’s book Roughing It, enjoying the color and exaggeration and the local history. Of course Ira had to point out that if I was such an enthusiast and fan of Mark Twain, I should not be reading a paperback but should have a hardcover copy of the book. I laughed and told him it had been out of print for 100 years. A couple of weeks after they left our mountains I received a package in the mail. It was a hard copy of Roughing it published in 1898 with original art. I am sure it was Lise that found it but it was so like Ira and I shall now cherish it even more than I always have.

He is truly missed… but I am thankful he was part of our lives.

Arthur Telech

June 17, 2009

In the fall of 1961 before we were married, Ima Jean and I decided to try to make the summit of Mount Whitney. In those days all that was necessary was to sign in and out at the bottom so that the forest rangers would know if everyone made it back. The way the assent was generally done was to climb up to the last available water at the 12,000 foot level, make camp for the night, leave your gear there and make the summit and the entire decent the next day. We were taking a rest beside a stream about half way up the first day when a climber called from below and asked if I was Art Telech. As you can imagine, I was shocked to hear my name and then even more shocked when this climber with a huge dark beard comes charging up almost on a run and announces that he is my fraternity brother, Ira. What a surprise!!! I can picture him at that moment like it was yesterday, strong and muscular in hiking boots and shorts with a beard that gave him a bona fide mountain man look. I hadn’t had any contact with Ira since school and here he signs in right after I did at the base and noticed my name. He could ascend much faster than we could so with a promise to have a warm fire waiting for us when we reached camp, he went back to charging up the mountain. There were only about eight or ten climbers that day, most too tired to talk so Ira and I were able to spend a nice quiet evening one on one around a campfire together. Because of his climbing speed, we weren’t able to make the summit or decent with each other but promised to get together soon after. It was that promise that led to the party at his apartment where the photo that was circulating around a few months back was taken. We saw each other several times since but I will always picture him as he ran up to us that day on the mountain. Go with God Ira… Arthur Telech

Kathy McKenzie

June 17, 2009

Dear Lise, Elise, and Mark,
I am so sorry to hear of Ira's death. I have many memories of him in Ivrea, Lexington, and Boston, especially when he showed us around the North Bennett St. School. It seems he managed to squeeze so much into his short life. We will miss him. Hugs to you all.

Heather McKenzie MacGumerait

June 16, 2009

When I picture Ira, I see a him sitting in your Lexington living room with a big, gentle smile on his face. I am so sad for your loss.

Anne Rowe

June 16, 2009

Dear Kari Lise and family
Our thoughts and love are with you.
Remembering times where Ira was around in person gives us pleasure and makes us smile. He will now be with us in spirit and thoughts, which still will make us smile from time to time. He was such a nice person.
Anne and Ken

Jon Momberger

June 16, 2009

I remember at RPI, as we were nearing graduation, Ira said he had more scholarship offers than we did job offers. I think he accepted the IEEE one which is only given to one student in the US each year. I also remember a class in electronics where the professor got mixed up, and Ira got up in front of the class to teach the rest of the session. Ira said he had just happened to read the course book early and naturally understood it all.

Ira and Harvey were both on the school handball team that embarassed Notre Dame and won two national titles. I remember their hands were purple for a week after each NCAA tournament. In 1959 Ira and Harvey lost their only school championship to Phi Iota Alpha, and we went to the spanish fraternity for the celebration. Castro's men stayed at the frat house while he attended the UN. The men in their kakis were all drunk on tequila, and the only sober ones were Che and the players so we left and went back to Zeta Psi. Ira and Harvey had won every other year and were our true champions.

We had a real amalgamated room: me, Ira, Harvey and Bob. Two Jews, a Mormon and an Episcopalean. We stayed roommates for two years.

We will all miss Ira and his level-headed, dry sense of humor. I remember his chuckle when he knew he had put one over on us.

Jon

June 16, 2009

Dear Lise, Mark, and Elise,

Ira was a good friend and a wonderful person. I am so sorry that he is gone. I know he will live on in your hearts and mine.

Alex McKenzie

Harry Forsdick

June 16, 2009

I am so sorry to hear of Ira's death. I remember Ira from when I was a researcher and Ira was a program manager at DARPA. Most program managers where aggressive, demanding people, while Ira was a quiet, soft spoken, inquisitive person who brought out the best in people he was talking with. This is how I remember him.

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