MICHAEL ATHANS Ph.D.

ATHANS, Michael Ph.D Professor and Former Director of the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems Of Clearwater, Florida (formerly from Cambridge, MA) passed away May 26th at his home in Clearwater at the age of 83. He leaves his loving partner Lena Corsentino, sons Stephen Athans Spodick and his wife Kathleen of Holden, MA, Brett Athans of St. Petersburg, FL, Sean Athans of St. Pete Beach, FL, and Stavros Valavanis, of New York, NY. His son John Athans Spodick predeceased him in September 2019. He also leaves four grandchildren, Ryan Spodick of Burlington, VT, Christopher Spodick of Burlington, VT, Nicholas Spodick of Holden, MA, and Michael Athans of St. Petersburg, FL. He also leaves his brother Sotiris Athanasiadis and his wife Sofia of Thessaloniki, Greece, and their two children Chrysa and Yannis. Michael Athans was born in Drama, Macedonia, Greece in 1937 and came to the United States in 1954 for a one-year exchange visit under the auspices of the American Field Service, where he attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. He then attended the University of California at Berkeley from 1955 to 1961 where he received his BSEE in 1958 (with highest honors), MSEE in 1959, and Ph.D in Control in 1961. From 1961 to 1964, he was employed as a member of the technical staff at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA, where he conducted research in optimal control theory. From 1964 to 1998, he was a faculty member in the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, where he held the title of Professor. He also was the director of the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (formerly the Electronic Systems Laboratory) from 1974 to 1981. In 1978, he co-founded ALPHATECH, Inc., Burlington, MA, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Scientific Consultant. He also consulted for numerous other industrial organizations and government panels. He acted as the thesis supervisor for 42 MIT doctoral students. In 1995, he was Visiting Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Upon retirement, Michael moved to Lisbon, Portugal for 15 years and received a Honoris Causa Doctorate from the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa in 2011. Upon returning from Portugal, Michael chose to live in Clearwater, FL to be near his sons Brett and Sean as well as his grandson Michael. He will be remembered for his kindness, sharp wit, strong will, and stories of growing up in Greece. Services are private. A Life Tribute Funeral Care Largo, FL

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