Raymond Karl Mueller

Raymond Karl Mueller, born in 1941 in East St Louis, Illinois, died April 24, 2019 of pancreatic cancer. Ray was raised by his mother, Marie Oertle, and his grandmother, Ida. His parents were divorced when he was one year old. His stepfather died when he was 7. He always said that he was more comfortable with females in roles of authority because he had such a strong female presence in his upbringing. Ray was ahead of his time in level of support and comfort with high achieving women.

Ray was gifted in the area of mathematics resulting in his neighborhood high school not knowing what to do with him when it came to math. So they decided to send him to the library to read math books. Ray earned a scholarship to attend Washington University in St Louis as an undergraduate, only 5 minutes from his home where he lived while doing his undergraduate and graduate work. Ray received what he called a “Sputnik” scholarship for his graduate studies—scholarships due to the space race with Russia that funded many scientific higher degrees at the time. He was exceptional in pure mathematics but always felt he wanted to see the applications of those theories so switched to applied mathematics during his second year of graduate school earning a Doctor of Science degree in 1967 from Washington University.

While in school, Ray worked at Monsanto during the summers and upon graduation took a job at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, working in Information Theory. Bell Labs was a major research facility from the late 19th century through the mid-1980s developing such inventions as the transistor, the laser, photovoltaic cells (solar), and conducting basic research for our current day cell phones. Ray absolutely loved the challenge of the great mathematical minds he encountered at Bell Labs. He did post graduate work at the Courant Institute at New York University. In 1970 he took a job at the Colorado School of Mines as a mathematics professor. Upon leaving Mines he changed his focus to economics and investments.

While in Colorado, Ray and Alma, his wife of 51 years, enjoyed the state through hiking, back packing, cross country skiing, and biking (the old fashioned kind where you wore regular shorts and shirts). The Mines community was a tremendously warm and caring group and many strong friendships were made. The couple traveled to numerous places in the West over summer camping vacations, and continued to travel (less with tents) as they aged, including more distant travel to Mexico, Hawaii and Europe. They traveled well together and thoroughly enjoyed the trips they took and their time together.

Ray is survived by his loving wife Alma Mueller (nee Wolff) and truly lovely family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Nature Conservancy or a charity of your choice.

A Memorial Luncheon and Celebration of Ray’s Life will be held on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 11:30 AM in the Bear Creek Room at the Golden Community Center in Golden, Colorado.