Dick McEwen
Dec. 22, 1925-Feb. 19, 2024
Palo Alto, California

C.R. "Dick" McEwen, a resident of Palo Alto since 1964, passed away in San Mateo on February 19th. He was 98.

Dick was born in Montana and spent his early years in the woods, where his father was a lumber camp superintendent. He graduated from high school in Missoula and studied at Cal Tech and Stanford, obtaining degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. In 1950 he was one of the first people in the U.S. to be awarded a Ph.D. in chemical engineering.

He worked as a petroleum recovery scientist at the Union Oil Company in Brea, and then at the Spinco division of Beckman Instruments in Palo Alto. He made significant contributions to the field of biomedical instrumentation, including ultracentrifugation and protein/peptide sequencing.

Dick was active as a volunteer in Palo Alto, notably with the police department, and in disaster preparedness with his local neighborhood watch group; he also taught an AARP senior driving class. He was very musical and played piano, guitar and the trumpet, with which for many years he serenaded his neighbors on New Years Eve with 'Auld Lang Syne' on his front lawn. He hated gardening.

Dick enjoyed hiking the Bay Area with Maurice Martin and Dick Rosenbaum, formerly mayor of Palo Alto, both friends on Garland Drive, where Dick and his wife Patty lived since 1964.

He is survived by Patty, of San Mateo, his son Todd, of Edinburgh, and his daughter Kirsty, of Key West.

Tags: veteran, teacher/educator, public service