Dr. Richard B Gomez

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Edna Salazar Gomez; his children, Eydie Blanchard (Paul) of Clifton, VA., Michael Gomez (Sallie) of Broad Run, VA., Ruth Thacker (Rick) of Fullerton, CA., and Valerie Stone (Matt) of Fredericksburg, VA.

He will also be greatly missed by his 10 grandchildren; his brother, Robert Gomez of El Paso, TX.; and his sister, Gloria Magaῆa of El Paso, TX.

Dr. Gomez was a native of El Paso, TX. He was a graduate of Bowie High School where he was student body president and the Drum Major of the Bowie High School Band. He was an accomplished trumpet player and attended what is now the University of Texas at El Paso on a music scholarship. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics and 2 years later, he and two other students were awarded the first master’s degree in physics ever given by the university. He earned his doctorate in physics from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces while working at the U.S Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at White Sands, NM. He moved his family to the Washington D.C area where the Department of the Army appointed him to the Senior Executive Service.

Dr. Gomez worked for the Department of Defense and was later appointed the technical director of the U.S Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories and the deputy director of the Army Space Technology and Research Office. After retiring from the government, he accepted a position at George Mason University as a research professor in the school of Computational Sciences.

He was a member of many professional societies, was published extensively in scientific journals and was the recipient of numerous achievement awards. He was awarded the Outstanding Ex-Student award by Bowie High School and the Gold Nugget Award for Outstanding Alumni from the College of Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. In 1989, he received the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award.

He loved being surrounded by family and enjoyed reading, computers, science fiction, and playing his trumpet. He will be remembered as a sweet, playful, happy person who was loved by many.

A memorial service is planned at Mullins and Thompson Funeral Service, Fredericksburg chapel for Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 2:00pm with a visitation 30 minutes prior.