Martyn Strong

71, of N. Chelmsford, MA, passed away Thursday, September 10, 2020.  

He was born in Englewood, NJ to Henry Willard and Elizabeth Crocker Strong. Martyn grew up in Leonia, NJ, Brattleboro, VT and Plainview, Long Island, NY where he graduated from Plainview High school in 1967.  During high school he was active in the Audio-Visual Club and excelled in math and science.

Martyn graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.  He worked at night as a radio disk jockey and learned to fly. He continued his education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY where he earned a Masters in Electric Power Engineering in 1972.  He went to Union College in Schenectady, NY where he earned a Masters in Computer Science in 1976.  Then he went to Western N.E. College in Springfield, MA where earned an MBA in 1986.  He was able to do his course work at Hanscom Air Force Base where they had a campus for the military. 

Martyn worked as a software engineer for General Electric in Schenectady, NY and then RCA in Burlington, MA.   Then he worked for Raytheon, MSD in Tewksbury, MA as Senior Software Engineer.  While he was employed at Raytheon, MSD he worked on the development of the Patriot Missile at White Sands, NM.  He ended his working career with Giganet which was subsequently purchased by Emulex.  He then volunteered with Microsoft’s program to teach high school students programming languages in the Boston area.

He was the younger brother of Elizabeth Crocker Haines-Papagiannis of Marco Island, FL and Lexington, MA and Susan Ellen Oldershaw and the brother in law Lee Oldershaw of Marco Island, FL.  He was the uncle of Cynthia Ellen Ginnett of S. Chelmsford, MA, Frederick Edward Haines of Arlington, VA, Travis Oldershaw of Germantown, TN, and Cheryl Oldershaw Chant of DeWitt, MI.  He is the uncle -in-law to Rebecca Haines, Erin Oldershaw and Alan Ginnett.  Devoted great uncle to Tyler, Austin and Justin Ginnett and Graham and Tess Oldershaw.  He loved to entertain them with solving different size Rubik cubes.  He was available for baby sitting with his sister Liz and often picked up Tyler, Austin, and Justin from the Innovation Academy the boys attended in Tyngsboro, MA.

He leaves behind his extended family, Tina and Wally McCauley and their children Michael, Russell and Marinna, of Rockland, MA and Dimi Michael Papagiannis of Sierra Madre, CA.  He will also be missed by his friend Jane Summers of Schenectady, NY.  Martyn was predeceased by Charles A. Haines, his nephew and Edward C. Haines, his brother-in-law.

Private family burial will be held at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Martyn’s name payable to the University of Chicago: Please indicate on the check memo line and/ or a cover note that you are designating the gift for the “TMW center for Early Learning and Public Health”.  Martyn had become a supporter of their philosophy on the importance of Early Language Development as outlined in the book titled 30 Million Words Building a Child’s Brain by Dana Suskind.

By Mail:

The University of Chicago
Gift Administration and Business Data
5235 S. Harper Court
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60615

Online:

https://campaign.uchicago.edu/join-the-campaign/giving/annual-giving/gifts-of-cash/

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