Stimets
Richard W. Stimets, 80, passed away at The Village at Waterman Lake on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
Born in Boston, in 1942, he was the son of the late Elmer and Eleanor Stimets of Wellesley, Mass. He most recently lived in Greenville, R.I., for six years and before that in Dracut and Wellesley, Mass.
Richard was a 1960 graduate of Wellesley High School, a 1964 Graduate of MIT in physics, and a 1969 PhD graduate of MIT. He excelled academically at all levels. After a brief time working at General Electric in Cleveland, Ohio, Richard came back to Massachusetts and began a teaching career at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He was a professor of physics and astronomy for 42 years there.
In 1995, Dr. Stimets began to construct an international language that he named Ayola. It was designed to let people all over the world communicate culturally and scientifically using a common language. His dream was to one day have a vocabulary of over 20,000 words. Richard and his team of students worked on this project for over 25 years.
Richard loved music and for many years sang with the Nashua, N.H., Choral Society. He also loved hiking and skiing. He had a home, "Two Winds," in Rangeley, Maine, where he spent the majority of his summers. He just loved the mountains and lakes of western Maine. Astronomy was a passion of his and he so enjoyed gazing at the Milky Way and stars in the clear western Maine sky.
Richard leaves a brother, R. Bruce Stimets, and sister-in-law, Janet Stimets, of Smithfield, R.I. He also leaves a niece, Jennifer Randall, of Smithfield, R.I., and a nephew, Jonathon Stimets, of Middletown, R.I. He leaves a grandniece Brooke Randall and grandnephew Blake Randall both of Smithfield, R.I.
A memorial service for Richard will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 9, in the Anderson-Winfield Funeral Home, Greenville. His burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018; parkinsonfoundation.org.
For directions to the funeral home or messages of condolence, please visit www.andersonwinfield.net.
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