Kenneth Robert Meyer

"...he's a true Renaissance man..." was an observation often made by his many friends and acquaintances, and Ken Meyer, the man behind this phrase, lived every minute of life to the fullest, always brimming with ideas, plans, people to see and things to do.

Ken's first love was flying, and as a private pilot he was proud to have put in the many hours of training and study required to earn his instrument rating. Ken and Quinn especially enjoyed flying together, planning their routes, taking in the spectacular vistas along the way, and just having fun together. Ken and Quinn had each almost completed requirements for their commercial pilots' licenses.

An expert horseman, skilled in the ancient art of dressage, Ken trained horses and riders during his twenties and thirties. In more recent years, Ken became a certified scuba diver, and enjoyed many diving expeditions with friends in beautiful, exotic locations. When in his late forties, Ken took up a new sport — ice hockey — and threw himself into it with the same passion and energy he devoted to all his interests.

Ken loved the piano, too, and especially enjoyed his years of lessons and work with his teacher Barbara Westerberg. Long a talented improviser and informal composer on his keyboard, in recent months, Ken had begun working with Barbara on creating more formal compositions. As usual, he found this new effort challenging and exciting.

Another very important part of Ken's life was his work, both at Carnegie Mellon University and through his interest in sharing the joy and thrill of scientific discovery with young people. In his project "The Miracle of Everyday Objects," he was working to develop a series exploring in vivid, accessible detail the fascinating story of the science — and especially the engineering — behind the objects that surround us in our everyday lives. While this project had not yet been funded, Ken and his friend Matt Cline, with the support of CMU, were hard at work developing an exhibit for the Carnegie Science Center.

Of course, any recounting of Ken's life would not be complete without mentioning his fascination with and expertise in the stock market, as well as the fact that he was a connoisseur of single malt scotch. Ken delighted in sharing his knowledge with friends during occasional scotch tastings, which featured his lighthearted recounting of the history and grandeur of single malt scotch, along with many examples for sampling, creating wonderfully special evenings of camaraderie.

    – Bette Hughes


return to main page