Ralph William Metcalfe

Ralph William Metcalfe, 78, of Seabrook, Texas, died peacefully on June 19, 2025, with much love and support around him. He was born on October 15, 1946, in Dallas, Oregon, and grew up in Seattle, Washington where his father was an engineer at Boeing. He graduated from the University of Washington, where he majored in Mathematics, and then went to graduate school at M.I.T. where he received his M.S. and PhD in Applied Mathematics.
After M.I.T., Ralph worked as a research scientist with the fluid flow research group at Flow Research in Seattle, where his research focused on computational fluid dynamics. In 1987 he came to the University of Houston where he taught for 35 years and focused on the numerical simulation of fluid flows including simulation of blood flows and work with the Texas Heart Institute, Houston Methodist Research Institute, and Baylor College of Medicine relating to the development of artificial heart pumps, cerebral aneurysms and stents. His Computational Fluid Dynamics classes often involved biomedical engineering students whose term projects required blood flow simulations. For a number of years he participated in the NIH proposal review study sessions on cardiovascular devices. Ralph loved teaching and was so proud of all his students and the positive impact he hoped he had on their lives and work. He enjoyed serving as faculty advisor to the Mechanical Engineering student Honor society and as Honors advisor to students in Mechanical Engineering. He also enjoyed serving as a consultant to Endothelix, a local biomedical business developing a non-invasive vascular reactivity testing device. Ralph also worked on simulations of flow in elastomeric seals in conjunction with Kalsi Engineering, where a number of his students' research was supported and they then became permanent employees.
Ralph was deeply fond of his nine nieces and nephews, eighteen grandnieces and grandnephews (and one great-grandnephew) and loved spending time with all of them, enjoyed family gatherings and trips and travels with them, and hoped he had a positive impact on their lives as well. Ralph felt very fortunate to have a love of music instilled in him from an early age and studied piano with a wonderful teacher in Seattle. He continued his love of music and enjoyed informal musical sessions with a number of talented students in Mechanical Engineering over the years. In recent years, Ralph and his wife enjoyed extensive travel to a number of places.
Ralph felt fortunate, after having been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer 14 months ago, that he was able to receive outstanding care at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and he was able stay active and enjoy local friends and events, and to still travel to see family and friends on the east and west coasts, plus a trip to London and return on the Queen Mary with 9 relatives in December, and two shorter cruises in recent months. He was able to enjoy music up through his final days thanks to the talented music therapist who brought music right to his room at the Palliative and Supportive Care Unit at MD Anderson and even provided a keyboard in his room for his visiting nephew to play. The skilled, comforting and compassionate staff at the MD Anderson Palliative and Supportive Care Unit, and at the nearby Houston Hospice where he spent his last few days, and much love from surrounding family, made Ralph's passing as peaceful as possible. He felt so grateful to have been born and lived at the best possible time and to have been able to enjoy wonderful friends, family, and colleagues, and a fulfilling career.
Ralph is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Virginia (Ginger), and his sister Lynn LaVine, and predeceased by his parents, Kenneth and Margaret Metcalfe, and his brother Alan Metcalfe
Because of geographically dispersed friends and relatives, there will not be a large memorial service for Ralph in Houston. Instead there will be a few smaller future gatherings planned in different places. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to either MD Anderson or Houston Hospice. Contributions can be made at: www.mdanderson.org/gifts or www.houstonhospice.org/donate/.