William Rogers Stern
February 27, 1919 to February 21, 2018
By Katharine Blossom Lowrie
He lived life to the fullest and then some
[Editor’s Note: Although William passed away a few years ago, we wanted to post a special tribute to this remarkable man.]
He ran marathons, climbed the highest peaks, played a funky trombone, and soared in the field of chemical engineering. A WWII veteran, William Rogers Stern, who worshipped his wife of 62 years, Helen, and their four children, passed away in Bedford, MA, on February 21, 2018. He was 99.
To say William, “Bill” to most, lived life to the fullest and then some, couldn’t be more apt.
It wasn’t just the super-human physical endeavors, such as winning three medals at the age of ninety in the Summer National Senior Games at Stanford University, and completing the torturous seven-mile run up Mt. Washington a couple times. Or the academic achievements, such as earning chemical engineering degrees from MIT and training as a WWII radar specialist at Harvard, not to mention membership in two honor societies. Or the professional accomplishments, such as engineering innovative products that improved automotive safety and higher reliability of airport data.
