Robert Olshansky

Bob Olshansky of Falmouth, MA, died peacefully in his home on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. He lives on through his wife Nan Denton; his sister Beth Olshansky and her family; his children and their partners Art, David, Christine, Wendy, Jeff, Adam, Alley and Lisa; and his grandchildren Alex, Jack, Naish, Ivy, Reed, Lila, Sara, and Willa.
Bob was born November 18, 1942, in Dorchester, MA, son of Simon and Helen Olshansky, both first generation Americans born to Jewish, Russian immigrants. Simon and Helen moved to Natick, MA in 1950 where the family would remain. From an early age, Bob excelled in math and science, but much of his scientific passion came from his early adventures outside in nature where he was always exploring and collecting things to study like minerals, bird nests, and even live snakes which famously escaped in the house to the horror of his mother.
It was during these years that Bob developed a love for immersion in projects. Whether building a canoe or go-cart, sledding jump, creating a science fair presentation, or sculpting lifelike dinosaur models for display in his "science museum", once a project was started, Bob seemed to have an inexhaustible reserve of concentration and a passion for digging into a challenge, overcoming intellectual and physical hurdles along the way, and ultimately accomplishing the thing he set out to do. This passion followed him to the end of his life. While diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, he created 3 books of his photography and put finishing touches on many of his beautiful sculptures. These books, his sculptures, and his amazing photographs will remain a cherished legacy.
Growing up, Bob excelled as a student. He was valedictorian of Natick High School, would sometimes sheepishly mention coasting through Swarthmore College, and received a doctorate in particle physics from UPenn. In classic Bob humor, he described his thesis as "100 pages of unintelligible mathematics," and reflected, "I'm sure it must have been one of the worst doctoral theses ever written by a PhD student, but I'm guessing, based largely on my reputation for being the top student in my class, they passed me and congratulated me as Dr. Olshansky."
Postdocs at Brown University and in Paris were spent amidst a formative time for Bob traveling and being an outspoken radical during the Vietnam War with his first wife Joanne, culminating in a six-month camping adventure throughout Europe and Northern Africa in a bright orange VW bug. This was Bob's first experience traveling outside the US, and he became fascinated by the incredibly diverse landscapes, people, and cultures throughout the world. Later in life, he and Nan would spend a great deal of their time together devoted to traveling and exploring together.
Bob and Joanne settled in Corning, NY where he found work developing laser technology for Corning Glass Works, helping to pioneer the field of fiber-optics. His efforts would lead to a long and successful career in communications technology for GTE and eventually Verizon, where his work would play a role in ushering the world into the internet/cell phone era. Bob's confidence, intellect, and direct managerial style allowed him to anticipate scientific trends and pivot his research adeptly during a time of rapid advances in the telecommunications industry, and throughout these years he authored hundreds of patents and papers, and presented at conferences around the world. Bob would describe this work as always interesting and a good challenge, but he was never a person who defined himself through his career.
He and Joanne had two children, Adam and Lisa, and eventually moved to Wayland, MA, where he would remain for the next 30 years. During this period, Bob would fill his weekends with hiking, biking, canoeing, windsurfing, playing sports, and building things both independently and with his children.
Bob and Joanne separated in 1991, and in 1995 Bob met, fell in love with, and married Nan Denton. They would remain happily together through the rest of his life. Toward the end, again in true Bob fashion, he shared this while musing on his own journey through work and family: "Sometimes I wonder how I managed to be successful in Corning, GTE and Verizon, marry two beautiful, intelligent women, and raise high functioning children. Maybe I just was good at fooling everyone. Haha."
In 2001 Bob met his son Arthur who was born while he was in college and raised through his adopted family in Washington DC. Art would become a central figure within Bob's life over the course of the next 22 years, motivating summer adventures that brought the entire family together in Woods Hole, MA on Cape Cod. Nan's children, David and Wendy also became big parts of Bob's world which, during his last decades, was filled with family and the deeply fulfilling role as Zadie, eventually to 8 grandchildren.
During these latter years, Bob's passion for projects led him on deep dives into the world of art and travel. He and Nan moved to Falmouth, MA and adventured often, exploring more than 20 countries together. During this chapter, Bob became an avid photographer, excited most by taking street photography for which he received several awards and self-published a book during his last year. He developed a fervor for birding that led to his amazing collection of photographs. His photographic collection also includes the other exotic wildlife he came across on his travels with Nan. Inspired by Hepworth, Rodin, and Moore, Bob also drew on his love for modern sculpture, creating many beautiful pieces out of bronze, clay, and wood that will forever be treasured by his family and friends.
Never one for flowery discourse or social formality, Bob managed to impact all who knew him through a tireless enthusiasm for whatever he put his mind to and an almost childlike wonderment and desire to understand the world. All of us who were fortunate enough to share in his life always knew his thoughts and never doubted his love and respect. A day filled with activities was a good one for Bob, and if you were around him it was a given that you would be welcome to join in the adventure. Whether sharing a meal, hike, kayaking excursion, political discussion, scrabble game, or simply a laugh, it was always grounding to be around him, and the space Bob has left in our hearts upon his death will forever be filled with fond memories and the deepest love and gratitude.
There will be a memorial tribute to Bob this summer. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Bob's honor may be made to the Massachusetts Audubon Society.