Ray Ryland Crittenden

Ray Ryland Crittenden of Cambridge, passed away on July 19, 2023. Ray was born in Galesburg, Michigan, on March 19, 1931, and died on July 19, 2023, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. 

Ray grew up in Salem, Oregon where his father found work as a mail carrier during the Great Depression.  Ray received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Willamette University in 1954 before beginning graduate work in experimental elementary-particle physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There he designed, built, and commissioned a bubble chamber camera system that achieved unprecedented sensitivity to rare decays of the muon, operating at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). After receiving his doctoral degree in 1960, he completed postdoctoral research work at Brookhaven National Lab and then joined the physics faculty at Indiana University - Bloomington in 1962. He remained at IU until he retired in 1995, teaching at IU and participating in research collaborations around the world. Ray was a fellow of the American Physical Society and Professor Emeritus of Physics at IU.

Ray was an avid reader, woodworker, and outdoorsman. With his wife, Kathie, he transformed a large property they purchased west of Bloomington in 1964 into a family home and wildlife preserve. After retiring, he traveled widely and finally moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2015. Ray exhibited strong principles in his roles as a father, teacher, scientist, naturalist, and generous supporter of reproductive rights, and his legacy will live on in his children and those who knew him.

Ray is predeceased by his parents, Ray and Dollie Crittenden; his sister, Ila Hawkes; and his brother, Richard Crittenden. Ray is survived by his ex-wife, Kathryn (Kathie) Ellen Crittenden; son, James Arthur Crittenden; two daughters, Jennifer K. Crittenden (Tom Harvey) and Jill Rae Crittenden (Kyle Copps); four grandchildren, Lucas James Harvey, Julian Arthur Harvey, Oliver Crittenden Copps, Sylvia Copps Crittenden; and his beloved family dog, Russ.

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