Richard Louis Myerson

1921 - 2017

Myerson, Richard Louis
July 24, 1921 - December 17, 2017
Richard Louis Myerson died peacefully at home with his family on December 17, 2017, half a year after the passing of his beloved Rosemarie. He was 96.
Dick was born in 1921 and grew up in Brookline Massachusetts, attending Boston Latin School and Yale. He went directly from Yale into the Navy, where he served in the minesweeper research program, where he directed a laboratory. In 1944 he met and, on Christmas Eve, married his lifetime partner, Rosemarie.
Following the War, he returned to Massachusetts and joined his father and two brothers at Myerson Tooth Corporation, a leading manufacturer of dental prosthetics. He was placed in charge of R&D at a time when artificial tooth manufacturing processes were undergoing major changes. He approached the challenges like a true scientist, learning the fundamentals of plastics and ceramics through courses at MIT while working full time. Bicycling to and from MIT on his lunch break, he completed a Masters thesis, developing an experimental technique for measuring the torsional properties of cross-linked polymers. He obtained numerous patents, both for dental and non-dental products (including a ski binding release designed to avoid injury from a fall at rest). He understood that learning is a two-way process; he taught and mentored dental researchers from all over the globe. In the mid 1970s he and his brothers sold Myerson Tooth to Pfizer. Dick became Vice President for Research at Howmedica, Pfizer's prosthetics subsidiary. After retirement, he and Rosemarie moved to the Sarasota area where they continued to play a very active role in environmental and Democratic causes.
He was always a patient and caring father. He taught his children how to think, but never put them under pressure. They grew up to become a physician, a Nobel Prize winning economist, and a pastoral care minister.
Dick was an avid squash and tennis player. As with everything else, he was unassuming and courteous but played with endless endurance and great intelligence, and he was very hard to beat.
His brothers and Rosemarie have predeceased him. Dick was one of the young men and women who responded to great challenge and came into their own in WWII. They thoroughly earned the title "greatest generation."
Dick is survived by his children Robert (Carla Wheatley Myerson), Roger (Gina Weber Myerson), and Patricia, and grandchildren Jacob, Daniel, Rebecca, and Sophie.
Contributions may be made to Planned Parenthood at plannedparenthood.org, United for Puerto Rico at unidosporpuertorico.com/en/, or The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at dccc.org.
Guestbook at HebrewMemorialSarasota.com