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Ronald Oran Stearman

1932 - 2020

BORN

1932

DIED

2020

About

Oklahoma State University University of Texas California Institute of Technology

Ronald Stearman Obituary

STEARMAN, Ronald Oran PH.D. Dr. Ronald Oran Stearman passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 21, 2020 at the age of 88, after a brief illness. Ronald was born June 8, 1932 to Glenn Arthur Stearman and Coral Harriet Strickland Stearman in Wichita Kansas. He grew up around the family's aircraft company and had a lifelong love of aviation. Ronald earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1955 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956 and 1961, respectively. He was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years. He was a private pilot and long time member of the AIAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association. After retiring from the University, he continued his career as an Aviation Safety consultant. Ronald married Beverly Irene Unger in 1957. They shared almost 57 years of marriage and raised two children together in their Northwest Austin home. Ronald was a devoted father and grandfather. He often took his children on Saturday afternoon flying outings in a rented Cessna, and played duets with his grandchildren on his clarinet. He was a faithful member of the University United Methodist Church for 51 years. He will be remembered fondly for wearing colorful bolo ties with a Longhorn jacket, but even more for his love of family, trusting heart, and Texas-sized sense of humor. Ronald is preceded in death by his wife, Beverly, and his sister, Guyna Stearman Russell. He is survived by his sisters, Glenna Park and Suzanne Garen-Fazio; his children, Gregory Stearman and Jennifer Harrison; six grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His family is very grateful to the loving teams at Franklin Park Round Rock and Encompass Home Health and Hospice who took great care of him and remained at his side with us. The family would like to direct memorial donations in his honor to the Code2College Vision 2024 initiative supporting the placement of 200 black and Latinx women into STEM roles by 2024 at https://code2college.org/Vision-2024 .

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Austin American-Statesman on Jul. 28, 2020.

Memories and Condolences
for Ronald Stearman

12 Entries

Phil Daily

January 25, 2022

Ron was my undergraduate professor at UT and later my supervising professor and employer in graduate school. A fond memory was a graduation dinner at his house during which he showed us a box with blueprints of the Stearman biplane. He remarked that he wanted to recreate it. I was disappointed hearing that since I was leaving Austin. I credit my MS degree to his faithful leadership. I pray God will comfort us in his parting.

William J. Anderson

December 21, 2020

Ron and Beverly were great friends at Caltech. Ron and I shared an office for 3 years during our graduate study there. He was a very nice person and always of the highest ethics. I helped him do some supersonic wind tunnel testing (for his thesis) and we had a great time at NASA Ames Lab doing that. Ron was a credit to his profession.

George Donoso

October 22, 2020

So sad to hear of his passing. I was his undergrad student in Arrospace, class of 92. He was a mentor. He holds a special place in my heart.

Gun-Shing Chen

October 10, 2020

Professor Stearman was practically the first American I met when I arrived in the United States for my graduate study at UT Austin in 1979. He was a kind and soft-spoken gentleman with a Texas-sized heart. Being a foreign student from different culture (Taiwan), I remember the first Mexican cuisine he took me to (it turned out to be a challenging tasting experience) and first Christmas dinner at his house. I did not realize until later on how much my hands-on practicing career benefited from what I learned from his teaching in the Structural Dynamics Lab and the field work opportunity at Swearingen Aircraft. From him, I learned the essence of the graduate research, originality and authenticity that I am forever grateful.

Thank you Professor Stearman. May you rest in peace.

Ted Costuros

September 1, 2020

I was privileged having Dr. Stearman as a mentor in engineering. It started when I took his senior design class 32 years ago. I worked under his supervision while pursuing a M.S. degree in aerospace engineering at UT Austin, and accepted his advice as he served on my Ph.D. committee.

Dr. Stearman influenced every academic milestone in my life with positive energy. With a vivid memory I recall him going out the back door of WRW labs, loading equipment on the back of his station wagon, only to go take aeronautical measurements all around central Texas.

Thank you Dr. Stearman! May you Rest in Peace.

Ted Costuros

Birthday 2020

Gregory Stearman

August 1, 2020

Happy 88'th!

Gregory Stearman

August 1, 2020

Gregory Stearman

August 1, 2020

Great 88'th birthday in spite of the COVID isolation. Big thanks to the team at Franklin Park Round Rock Assisted Living for making the birthday special.

David Goldstin

July 29, 2020

I met Ron when I arrived as a young faculty member at UT. We chatted over the years about wind tunnel testing, aerodynamics, wind turbines and a few odd legal case things. We worked together to examine the aerodynamics of the Cessna Caravan with several students over a few years. We built and tested scale model planes in different ways, and traveled with a crew of students to measure certain aspects of the Caravan. Ron's leadership in studying the issues and addressing the proper concerns was much appreciated.

Smooth flying Ron.

Jeremy Jagodzinski

July 28, 2020

I had the privilege of taking Professor Stearman's senior design class in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at UT some 25 years ago. From day one I was inspired by the benevolent bent of his class, from Dr. Stearman's patient and supportive approach to teaching, to his selection of research topics for his class to explore. The engineering projects his students could chose from each had a distinctive human element, such that any progress any of us could make would clearly help people! (I chose to study the dynamics of intervertebral discs in the human spine under high G-loading, with the goal of designing a device that would help pilots avoid back injury during ejection).

I continued to enjoy periodic visits with Dr. Stearman in the years after taking his senior design class, frequently at the J. J. Pickle Research Campus, the UT research campus in north Austin where Dr. Stearman operated a low speed wind tunnel lab. Dr. Stearman was passionate about aviation and engineering, for sure, and his intellect and dedication to learning made him a pioneer in the field of flutter. But his most distinctive quality, in my opinion, was his passion for people. It was his huge, loving heart that drove his teaching and research ambitions, and that made him a natural advocate for aviation safety.

Dr. Ronald Stearman was and will continue to be an inspiration for me. It is because of role-models like him that I became an engineer. May he rest in peace.

Janet Stearman

July 28, 2020

Ted windecker

July 28, 2020

I met Dr. Ron Stearman In 1967, my senior year at the University of Texas. I was one of his students and worked as a student assistant at his UT Structural Dynamics Laboratory. I had accepted a job offer from NASA, but he urged me to take the job working for my father’s company developing the first FAA certified all-composite airplane, the Windecker Eagle, arguing that I would Learn more and do more in that research and development environment. I took his advice, and he was absolutely right. Over the ensuing 50+ years, I had the great privilege of working with him on multiple projects. I was awestruck by his deep understanding of aeroelasticity, but more so his kindness and gentle humor. People like Ron Stearman are unique and rare. My love to him for a life well lived and to his family and friends. Thank you. Ted Windecker, Lakeway, Texas.

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