Ronald Ward Keil

Ron lost his battle with brain cancer on the evening of Aug. 13, 2014. Ron was born in San Francisco to Frederic and Florence Keil, and grew up in the Bay Area. He was educated at Markham Grammar School, Bret Harte Middle School and the original Hayward High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1963 from San Jose State University, then a Master of Science degree and a doctorate in 1969 and 1972 at the University of California at Davis. Near the end of schooling, he met the love of his life, Katherine Peterson, and the two were married in March of 1973. Ron and Kay lived in San Luis Obispo for four years, where Ron taught mechanical engineering at California Polytechnic State University. In 1976 they moved to Corvallis, where Ron took an engineering position at the newly opened Hewlett-Packard Co. His first task was to design a thermal printer for the HP-85; then he designed and tooled the plug-ins for that computer. Later he joined the integrated circuit operation, where he developed circuit packaging and introduced finite element analysis to the HP site. He also developed a thermal analysis laboratory that became a corporate-wide resource. His last position at HP was in the inkjet division, where he became an inkjet architect; several of his designs still are in production. In 2000 Ron took early retirement from HP and joined the mechanical engineering faculty at Oregon State University. He retired from this position in 2010, but continued to teach as a volunteer for several more years. His heart was in teaching and lifelong learning. Ron was a sports car enthusiast and owned several exotic cars before he met Kay. He raced them in the mid-1960s, before starting graduate school. He loved road trips that included lots of twisting back roads. Ron loved music, especially l’opera italiana, and nearly every everyday occurrence brought to mind a song or tune from the past. Ron is survived by his wife, Kay; sons Jon and Chris of Corvallis; grand-daughter Katie of College Station, Texas; and brothers Gerry of Flensburg, Germany, and Barry of South Lake Tahoe, California. At his request, no services will be held, and his ashes will be scattered in several favorite locations.

Tributes

Ronald Ward Keil

June 30, 1940 - August 13, 2014