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Robert Beyer Obituary
Dr. Beyer is survived by four children: Catherine Beyer Hurst of Santa Fe, NM; Margaret Beyer of Rockville, MD; Rick Beyer of Lexington, MA; and Mary Beyer Trotter of Olympia, WA; and seven grandchildren: Brian & Timothy Hurst; Roberta & Andrew Beyer; and Julie, Rachel, & Faith Trotter.
His funeral will be held on Saturday at 9 A.M. from the PERRY-McSTAY FUNERAL HOME, 2555 Pawtucket Ave., East Providence with a Mass of Christian burial at 10 A.M. in St. Sebastian Church, 67 Cole St., Providence. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Calling hours Friday 5-8. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to: St. Sebastian Church, International House, 8 Stimson Ave., Providence, R.I. 02906 or the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, RI Chapter, 205 Hallene Rd., Suite 209, Warwick, R.I. 02886.
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Memories and Condolences
for Robert Beyer
Sponsored by the Beyer family.
May 26, 2017
An amazing and inspiring person.
MONA MORA
September 9, 2008
Dear Kathy:
I was very sad reading your father obituary that brought back pleasant memories of my special relationship with your parents. As a foreign student from Lebanon in the mid sixties, I was very lucky to have your father as my advisor, with his deep understanding and knowledge of not only physics but also of world cultures and human relationships.
God blessed your parents with long rich lives despite your father continued struggle with health problems. His strong faith and his love of life and love of giving and sharing, and the dedication of your mother to the whole family made him win the battles against his diseases and enjoy a long rich life. He was a perfect role model and I have learned a lot from him and your mother. My children remembered him and share with me and my husband Nabih our condolences on his passing away. May God rest the souls of your parents in Peace and may their fond memories and dedication help you in overcoming any difficulty in your own lives.
Mona Habib Mora (Brown MAT Graduate, 1967)
Bob Aldrich
September 4, 2008
I have many fond memories of Dr. Beyer and of great childhood adventures in your home. My condolences.
David Brown
August 27, 2008
It was a privilege to know and interact with Professor Beyer. Early on I went to the same grade School as his daughter Mary as I grew up in the same neighborhood in East Providence. I met Robert Beyer as I was a parishioner and alter boy at the Saint Martha’s church where Dr. Beyer was a Reader and Lector. He was always polite and impressive and was known for his service to the church. I didn’t know at the time that I was on the alter with Professor Beyer from Brown University. He was a modest man and powerful speaker. Much later on when I was in graduate school, I attended my first Acoustical Society meeting in San Diego in 1987 with my advisor and was introduced to Dr. Beyer in an entirely different context. I was very excited to meet this man again and to see a familiar face and hear a familiar voice. Subsequently, he always greeted me cheerfully at future ASA meetings asking “How is the young acoustician from Kent Heights!” He had a comfortable way of meeting and greeting many young people and moving on with other business. I became introduced to Professor Beyer’s work in non-linear acoustics and his Russian translations while at the Naval Postgraduate School. In 1993, I did a post-doc in the fiber optics group at Brown University and sat in on Professor Beyer’s undergraduate physics lectures to the pre-med students. I believe this was his last course he taught at Brown in his Emeritus status. He was brilliant... blending physics, history, politics, and live demonstrations to an audience of would-be physicians that could not have known that just how privilege they were. I recall that after showing some interest in what I was doing, he said “You know lad, God said let there be light! …Acoustics came before Optics!” and then he walked away. Still many years later my colleague, Boris Aronov, and I visited Professor Beyer, a hired consultant, at his home in the Laurel Mead community. We had working lunch meetings and discussed our translation and revision of Aronov’s monograph on Electroacoustic Transducers (published in Russian). He told me “Don’t just stand there –go write a book!” Robert Beyer was a great man and I am happy to have known and learned from him in many contexts.
Thank you Beyer family for the beautiful reception at Laurel Mead and the chance to hear stories and remembrances from so many friends and admirers present in life and in spirit.
David A. Brown
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Don Smail
August 25, 2008
Rick,
So sorry to hear about your father's passing. He was a kind and compassionate gentleman in every sense of the word, always willing to give of himself to whoever was in need. He will be greatly missed by his many friends in East Providence and particularly by his fellow parishioners at St. Martha's Church. His was a life well lived.
Nancy Hamilton(Beyer)
August 25, 2008
To all;
I most fondly remember Uncle Bobby and Aunt Ellen at my weddiing rehersal dinner, and wedding. What a great suprise. So very sorry to hear the sad news. Glad my Dad could make to the services. All are in our thoughts and prayers.
Allan Feldman
August 24, 2008
Lunch with Bob Beyer in the Ivy Room was always fun and always educational. He taught me that the sun rumbles. He was a great professor and a delightful colleague.
Floyd Dunn
August 23, 2008
My deepest condolences to Bob's family.
Bob helped me from the moment I met him at an ASA meeting in the early 1950s, and continued to do so throughout our careers. He will be sorely missed in acoustics.
Julie (Aldrich) Silva
August 23, 2008
Dear Cathy, I am sorry to hear of your father's passing. We were classmates for a couple years at St. Brendan School in Riverside.
Julie (Aldrich) Silva Riverside, RI
Joyce Bucklin-Fortin
August 22, 2008
Cathy, I'm so sorry to learn of you Father's passing. What an incredible man! You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers. Shalom.
Konstantin Naugolnykh
August 22, 2008
Prof. Robert T Beyer visited Moscow, USSR, in 1958 and made many friends due to his kind and brisk character.
He has helped me to visit Brown University and was a very attentive and good adviser.
later there were many interesting meetings at ASA conferences and I will miss him.
I express my condolence to Beyer's family.
Konstantin Naugolnykh
Mary Coveney
August 22, 2008
Dear Peggy, My family and I extend our condolences. I read your father's obituary on line. He was truly an amazing person. May his soul rest in peace.
Barbara Lewis Skober
August 22, 2008
Dear Kathy,
Although I met your father in the '50s when you and I were in elementary school, to me he was a devoted parent and a professor at Brown University. There was never any pretentiousness about him. I had no idea of his accomplishments until I read this obituary. You and your siblings were blessed.
Mark Moffett
August 21, 2008
Bob was my thesis advisor, but much more more than that to me. I always regarded him as a close friend and mentor who guided me into a profession that I have loved ever since. Without his friendship and guidance, my professional life would doubtless have taken a completely different path.
Jean B F Newberry
August 21, 2008
Dear Beyer children: I am a niece of Tom and Eleanor Dwyer from your neighborhood in Riverside. I also lived on Forbes St at the top of Leroy Drive. You had wonderful parents and I know you were proud of them. Jean (Ballard-Finnerty)Newberry, Hampstead NC
Melvin Feldman
August 21, 2008
During the 1980's, Bob and i frequently lunched at the "big table" where his wit, sensitivities, intellect and good nature so impressed me. I am one of a very large group who will miss him.
Michael & Cecilia Brennan Family
August 21, 2008
It was a privilige and grace to have the opportunity to visit with your father when he was in Olympia. As he was always ready for a discussion, I knew a simple question would result in a learning experience for me as I sat at the feet of a brilliant man. His passing is a loss for so many. As a scholar, he would appreciate that this is not the final chapter in his life but rather the beginning of the sequel. Our family holds you in prayer as we extend our deepest sympathies and love.
Vic Sparrow
August 21, 2008
To all of Dr. Beyer's family members and close friends I want to express my deepest condolences. Dr. Beyer was a wonderful man and scientist who I met over 20 years ago through meetings of the Acoustical Society of America. Since that time I have talked with Bob numerous times and used his published papers in both my teaching and research in acoustics at Penn State. I can say with certainty that the the physical acoustics family will miss Bob very much.
David Blackstock
August 21, 2008
It's awfully difficult to accept closure on a friendship that began more than half my life ago. As a graduate student at Harvard in 1959, I needed to contact Professor Beyer about some work he had done on sound waves of finite amplitude, since that was my PhD research topic. So I simply called him by telephone. Although he didn't know me from Adam, he kindly talked with me. We had an interesting conversation, ending with mention of the fact that we would both be attending the Third International Congress on Acoustics in Stuttgart, Germany, in September that year. Bob's closing comment was something about Stuttgart being the natural place for two people from Providence and Boston to meet.
Bob Beyer, I'm going to miss you like the dickens.
David Blackstock
University of Texas at Austin
Caroline M Helie
August 21, 2008
Your Dad was the designated library representative for Physics. It was my privilege to work with him for many years. He was a delight and I found him to be so very helpful. My deepest sympathy to each of you.
Caroline M. Helie (Carrie)
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