Michael Milder, a physicist and family man, died of kidney cancer on December 12 at his home in Pacific Palisades. He was 71 years old. Born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on February 12, 1938, Milder graduated from Los Angeles High in 1955 and attended the California Institute of Technology, receiving his bachelor’s degree in physics in 1959. He graduated from Harvard in 1968 with a Ph.D. in physics. Employed at Tetra Tech in Pasadena (1968-1972), Milder moved to R & D Associates in Santa Monica until 1975, when he took a position at Physical Dynamics in Santa Monica. In 1976, with Frank Fernandez, Ken Nelson and Dick Ziemer, he became a founding partner of Arete Associates, Inc., a still-thriving research and development company that serves national-security needs and has offices in California, Virginia, Arizona, Florida and Colorado. Twenty years later, Milder received a Certificate of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy, John H. Dalton, which reads in part: ”As a scientist and highly motivating team leader, Dr. Milder’s contributions were essential and wide-ranging. His leadership, creativity and extraordinary technical insight are a credit to himself and the nation.’ The accompanying letter from Rear Admiral R.A. Riddell speaks to Milder’s ‘superb leadership, unparalleled technical insight and exceptional dedication,’ stating that they were ‘fundamental to one of the Navy’s most complex and challenging science and technology programs.’ Riddell added, ‘The result of your extraordinary efforts will be vital in maintaining the United States’ position as the paramount world leader in such technology well into the twenty-first century.’ In 2007, Milder established a permanent, endowed, need-based scholarship at Caltech in honor of George P. Mayhew, who was the Master of Student Houses during Milder’s undergraduate years. Milder moved to the Alphabet Streets neighborhood in Pacific Palisades in 1973 and lived there until 1983, when he moved to the Huntington Palisades. He married Maureen (Mo) McGee in 1981, and had two sons, Sam, of Barcelona, Spain, and Max, a junior at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Throughout his life, Michael valued his ‘obsessions,’ beginning with ham radio in his youth, music including singing in the a capella world-music group ‘Song of Earth,’ photography and 18 years of refereeing AYSO soccer for Region 69. His greatest intellectual obsession was physics, where his natural curiosity combined with his ability to embrace paradoxes enabled him to ‘trip over’ seemingly insoluble contradictions that eventually led to new understandings in wave theory. Known for his integrity, wisdom and compassion, Michael was beloved by his family, friends and colleagues. Through his words and his actions he offered his sons this exhortation: ‘Find your heart’s desire, and follow it.’ He is survived by his wife and his two sons, whom he loved dearly and who were his greatest source of pride, and his cousins Nancy Schimmel of Berkeley and Marissa Mei of Grass Valley. A private memorial will be held for Milder at Caltech in January. Donations in his honor may be made to Doctors Without Borders or Oxfam America.
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