Max Phillip Bleiweiss Jr.

Santa Teresa, NM-Max Phillip Bleiweiss, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, scientist, teacher, entrepreneur, and friend, passed away on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, after a battle with cancer. He was 82.

Max was born June 23, 1944, in Nogales, Arizona, to Mildred Fishler and Max Bleiweiss. His childhood carried him through Utah and California, and from an early age he showed the curiosity, adaptability, and quiet independence that would shape the rest of his life.

Max was a gifted student with a searching mind. After high school, he attended the University of California, Berkeley, on scholarship, where he studied nuclear physics. There he met Gail Siebenthal, whom he married on December 27, 1963, in Wolcott, Indiana. Together they raised two sons, David and Mark. Max later attended California State Polytechnic College at Pomona, earning a B.S. in Physics in 1966, and then earned an M.S. in Physics from California State College at Los Angeles in 1969.

Max's professional life reflected both his scientific ability and his willingness to follow opportunity wherever it led. He worked as a physicist for the U.S. Navy Ordnance Laboratory in Corona, California, and later in the San Diego area, where his work involved radio-wave propagation, atmospheric studies, and communications technology. During the Apollo missions, he monitored sunspots and their effect on communications, and appeared on television to explain the science to the public. He later joined family members in the dental supply business, working with his brothers Tony and Kim and other family members, and gaining experience in sales, ordering, inventory, and business ownership.

After the dental supply business, Max returned to scientific work. He worked at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and later at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, contributing to atmospheric and remote-sensing research. His later career was closely associated with New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he served as a research scientist and adjunct professor and helped direct work in applied remote sensing, agriculture, meteorology, and environmental science. He studied satellite imagery, dust storms, aerosol retrieval, and related environmental problems, and collaborated with researchers and graduate students in several disciplines. His work included a U.S. patent, numerous professional affiliations, and many publications.

Max had a scientist's mind, but he was never only a scientist. He loved learning, art, music, gardening, cooking, camping, fishing, and conversation. He once said that what he most wanted in retirement was to go to the mountains and study physics for the rest of his days, simply because there was still so much he did not know. That hunger to understand the world stayed with him throughout his life.

In Las Cruces, Max established M. Phillip's Gallery, combining his love of art with his entrepreneurial spirit. Later, after marrying Lucema Armenta on October 21, 2016, he moved to North Salt Lake, Utah, where he lived for several years. During that time he continued to collaborate on professional journal articles and mentor students at New Mexico State University, while also working with his brother Tony at Anthony's Antiques & Fine Art in Salt Lake City. He embraced Lucema's family with warmth and openness, and they in turn welcomed him as one of their own. He loved and cared for them deeply, and found joy in the larger circle of family that came into his life through Lucema. Two years ago, they moved to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

Max was devoted to his family. He loved his sons and took pride in their lives and accomplishments. He enjoyed time with his grandsons and spoke warmly of cooking with them, visiting with them, and watching them grow. He was thoughtful, intelligent, wry, observant, and deeply individual. His life crossed many places and many fields, but through all of it he remained unmistakably himself: curious, capable, understated, and quietly devoted to the people and ideas he loved.

The family expresses deep gratitude to the medical professionals who cared for Max in his final days and extended kindness, dignity, and compassion to him. The family also offers special thanks to Max's grandson Joshua Bleiweiss for his devoted time, care, and presence.

Max is survived by his wife, Lucema Armenta Bleiweiss; his sons, David Bleiweiss and his wife Kristy, and Mark Bleiweiss and his wife Celia; his grandchildren, Joshua, Justice, and Jarod; and his brothers, Anthony "B" Christensen and his wife Lynda, and Richard Kim Bleiweiss and his wife Laura. He is also remembered with love by extended family, friends, colleagues, former students, and all those whose lives were touched by his intellect, generosity, and gentle humor.

Private interment will take place at Bountiful City Cemetery.

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