Kenneth Charles Mylrea

Kenneth Mylrea
September 29, 1935 – August 22, 2025

Ken Mylrea, 89, of Flagstaff, Arizona, passed away on August 22, 2025, just weeks shy of his 90th birthday.

Born in Ontario, Canada, Ken was the third of five children born to Horace and Louisa Mylrea. He became a U.S. citizen in 1974 and earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 1968. He taught at the Universities of Wisconsin and Arizona, including serving as an adjunct professor and researcher at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Department of Anesthesiology. His research focused on anesthesia monitoring and biomedical signal analysis, and he was co-inventor on multiple U.S. medical patents related to IV fluid delivery systems and disposable esophageal and tracheal probes.

Ken lived life with an unrelenting sense of humor as well as an unquenchable desire for adventure. As a young man, he backpacked across Europe, slept among the monoliths of Stonehenge, climbed the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, and explored the deserts of the Middle East. In his middle age as he was becoming "Grandpa" to his daughter, Sandra's children, he climbed to the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with his son, Mike. Later in life, he backpacked solo through Yosemite, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, worked on a sheep farm in Australia, and went skydiving at the age of 70. For his 80th birthday, he hiked rim to rim at the Grand Canyon.

In 1998, Ken married his best friend, Mary Ellen. Their second marriage was a deeply loving and adventurous union that brought them much joy as they traveled the world together from Asia to the Americas. Ken was also an avid windsurfer and enjoyed learning kiteboarding with Mary Ellen while wintering near La Paz, Mexico.

Ken is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen, his children, Michael and Sandra, 16 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren.

Though he was admired by many for his remarkable academic achievements and extensive world travels, he will be most missed and dearly remembered as a devoted Dad, cherished Grandpa, and loving Husband.

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