LAWRENCE CHARLES BECKER

1934 - 2018

Dr. Lawrence Charles Becker

Dr. Lawrence Charles Beckerage 83, finally lost a four - year battle with pancreatic cancer and died on June 6, 2018 at his home in the Laurel Lake Active Retirement Community, Hudson, Ohio, where he and his wife, Mimi reside.

Larry was born, August 1, 1934, in Schenectady, New York to Leila and Stewart Becker. Larry was preceded in death by his parents; and brother, Reverend John Becker. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Mimi Larsen Becker; sons, David Andrew and Jonathan Kipp Becker; daughter-in-law, Kendra Hazlett Becker; granddaughter, Madeline Becker; grandson, Dylan Becker; nephew, Eric Larsen; niece, Elizabeth Larsen; sister-in-law,

Judith Larsen; niece, Mary Becker; and nephews, Tom and Paul Becker.

Larry graduated from Tucson, Arizona High School where he was on the gymnastics team. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, with a major in Physics from Carleton College, Northfield, Minn. where he was also a diver on the swimming team and performed with Orchesis, the modern dance group. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School as well as an M.S in Physics, and a Ph.D. in Low Energy Nuclear Physics from Yale's graduate school. He joined the Physics faculty at Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio in 1963, where he taught a full range of physics courses for 40 years, served as Department Chair for 30 years and led the transition of the major from traditional physics to an applied physic major. He was an enthusiastic research participant in projects reflecting his interests at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, NASA Lewis research center and Case Western Reserve University. He also enjoyed, and involved his students in, summer collaborative industry-college projects with Ohio Scientific, M/A-Com and ISOTRON. During one sabbatical leave with Technical Education research Centers, MA, he developed a low cost data acquisition system. He also served as a Systems Engineer for the GEOCOMP Corporation in Boxborough, MA from its startup in 1984 until the end of May 2018, developing hardware, software and writing technical manuals for computer automated soil testing products. He enjoyed being with his family, and was an enthusiastic participant in the Physics and Cosmology discussion group at Laurel Lake. Fitness was important, so he was a regular at the Laurel lake Fitness Center. He loved to ride his motorcycle, and took his last ride at age 80. He enjoyed listening and dancing to live music, especially Classic Rock, R&B, and Folk and was a long time fan of guitarist- singer-songwriter Alex Bevan.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Hiram College in the Kennedy Center on Saturday, July 7th, 2018 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, friends may wish to consider a donation in Dr. Becker's name to either the Hiram College Student Scholarship Fund or the Laurel Lake Foundation's Health and Quality of Life Fund. Arrangements by Johnson-Romito Funeral Home, Hudson, Ohio. www.johnsonromito.com