Joseph Franklin Boston

Joseph (Joe) Franklin Boston of Naples, Florida passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, October 18, 2017. He was 80 years old. He was a powerful intellect whom enjoyed an eventful and impactful life, always living each moment to the fullest. Joe was born in Murphysboro, Illinois to Harold L. and Beaulah M. Boston, in 1936 and, after moving with his family several times, finally came to reside in Kirkwood, Missouri in 1951. He graduated from Kirkwood High School and chose to further his education by first attending Southern Illinois University, where he immediately demonstrated his thirst for knowledge and excellence in scholarship by receiving highest honors in his first term as a freshman.

Joe continued his studies at Washington University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering in 1959, and his first job was in West Virginia with Union Carbide Corporation at a time when computers were just beginning to be used for technical applications in the chemical process industries. In 1964, he returned to St. Louis to work for Monsanto which, at that time, was at the forefront of computer applications. As it turns out, his entire career was focused on mathematical modeling, process simulation and other applications of computers to chemical engineering.

After eight years of experience in the technical application of computers at Union Carbide Corp. and Monsanto Chemical Co., he decided to expand his career options by earning his doctorate at Tulane University in New Orleans. After receiving his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University in 1970, he had the unique opportunity to become an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He spent four years at the university, learning the culture and traveling extensively. A highlight of his experience was a six-week tour he and his family took through the Middle East in a Volkswagen camper bus. They travelled on some of the very roads that the troops in Iraq have travelled. They broke down in Baghdad and had to get the camper repaired, and then went on to Turkey, Greece, Syria and Jordan. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Upon returning to the United States in 1974, Dr. Boston was invited to become an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo. Three years later, in 1977, he became the principal engineer and Associate Project Manager for the ASPEN Project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy and more than 65 companies from the process industries worldwide, the ASPEN Project’s charter was to develop the “next generation” software system for computer-aided process engineering.

When the ASPEN Project was completed in 1981, Dr. Boston was one of the original co-founders of Aspen Technology, Inc. (AspenTech) to commercialize the ASPEN software developed at MIT. The company has grown from an eight-person start-up company, to a successful public company with more than 2000 employees. He retired in 2001, after serving as President of the Company for 17 years, but continued to serve in the role of Senior Corporate Advisor for several years.

Today AspenTech’s software is used every day to simulate process plants. It is a corporate engineering standard at most chemical companies worldwide, and is used by thousands of engineers in more than 1200 companies distributed among 45 countries, representing virtually every sector of the process industries. Chemical engineering and other engineering departments in more than 300 universities in North and Latin America, and more than 400 in other parts of the world, also use AspenTech’s software for teaching and research.

Dr. Boston’s technical accomplishments encompass a wide range of topics in the field of computer-aided chemical engineering. He was author or co-author of more than 60 technical

articles and conference presentations, as well as 2 patents. He received the 1994 Computing Practice Award from the Computing and Systems Technology Division of AIChE. In 1998, he was the recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the School of Engineering at Tulane. Dr. Boston was also a member and former chair of the Tulane Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Advisory Board.

Dr. Boston was the 2004 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from the Washington University School of Engineering and a former member of the School of Engineering Advisory Board.

Joe and his family had the pleasure of living in, or near, three of the most interesting cities in America: New Orleans, San Francisco and Boston. With a name like his, it was probably inevitable that he would wind up in the Boston area, where he and his wife lived for 35 years.

In 2012, Joe and his wife, Phyllis, took up permanent residency in Naples, Florida.

Joe led a rich life filled with accomplishment that was driven by the highest of standards and morals, the strongest of beliefs, and unwavering discipline. He did everything well, it was all or nothing. His sense of humor was matched only by his sharp wit and disarming charm. He was a proud American with a strong passion for politics, and was devoted to his country and his flag.

Joe enjoyed and exercised a strong interest in global warming, Red Sox baseball and N.E. Patriots football. But his passion was building and flying his remote control, 44% scale, gas powered airplanes. You could always find him at the field with his planes and flying buddies on a calm, sunny day, or in his workshop building his latest flying machine, on a rainy day.

Most of all, he cherished his family and the time he spent with them. Joe and his devoted wife, Phyllis, were about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. His immediate family includes a daughter, Cynthia Boston and her fiance, Raymond Cloutier of Hudson, NH, two grandsons, Keith Annand and his significant other Lissangy Rodriguez of Hudson, NH, Chris Annand and his wife Samantha of Westford, MA, and two great grandsons, Charles and Lucas Annand, also of Westford, MA. Joe also had two sisters, Carole Blanton and her husband Ben, and Candace Schneider. With the exception of Candace Schneider, all survive him, together with a host of nieces, nephews and extended family and friends.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens, located at 525 111th Ave. N., Naples, Florida, at 11:00 a.m., relatives and friends are invited. Joe’s family requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001 or by visiting www.alzfdn.org.