I first met Mitch as a camper at Camp High Point in the 1960's.  He would wake us up in the middle of the night and take us out into the cool night's air to view the heavens through one of the telescopes that he had build at the Planetarium in NYC while in high school.  He first showed me the rings of Saturn, and when I still tell this story today, people don't believe me.  Although we lost contact for sometime, we reconnected several years back and discovered that quite independently, we had both developed a passion for cycling.  We traveled together and rode the French Alpes one summer and I visited Mitch to ride El-Tour just a few years ago.  Just a year ago I was fortunate enough to spend several days with Mitch and Wendy in Tucson.  During that visit Mitch went to work every day and his spirit never waivered.  We have all lost a dear friend and mentor.  My deepest sympathies to Wendy and Mitch's family.

I remember being very nervous when I met Dr. Ruda for the first time in 2011. I was there on business and knew Dr. Ruda by reputation. I wanted to stay behind and let my partner take the meeting. Did I say I was very nervous? As soon as Dr. Ruda began to speak, my nerves settled. He had that effect on me. I loved listening to his stories and he always made me feel like a friend. I wish I had met him sooner and learned from him. At the end of that first meeting he pointed to a picture of a crested saguaro and spoke on saguaros and lighting. He then said to me, "Call me Mitch". Thank you Mitch.

We are just heart broken. I met Mitch when I was attending the U of A and he was one of my favorite people at the university. I met up him years later because he was a friend of one of my husbands' clients. I am so sad right now. The world has lost a great person.
Pattie Blecha Holter

I rember Mitch, the Astronomer . Standing on the deck in Colo. a few summers ago., and looking at the stars. Mitch was pointing and naming many stars, stars with names I couldn't pronounce  much less spell! Mitch was rattling off so man that I couldn't keep up! He also spent a good half an hour describing a planets location in relation to our house in Tucson , he not only described what to look for , but where to find it int the sky from my house 15 miles away! Mitch, I know you are exploring the universe and traveling the heavens!, Whenever I look at the night sky I will always think of you!     Luv Anne

Over the fourteen years Mitch and I spent together, we communicated endlessly.  Our subjects ranged everywhere; but one of our favorites was the new findings in physics that were mindblowing in their strangeness and seemed to break the rules.  He would read to me from his journals, "Here's one you will like.  They are catching up with your intuition about how things work."

In recent months Mitch developed a strong interest in metaphysics, one of the few subjects he had passed up.  I was his guide in this subject that he had really only encountered through me.

There is nothing like an incipient adventure to peak your curiosity about the trip.  He asked many questions.  I told him what I knew and threw in plenty of my own ideas for good measure.

Be on the lookout for new breakthroughs-maybe a fuel that works, a way to get the kids off their machines and talking to the people who are in front of them again, really important things that mattered to him.

Mitch's tenacity, brilliance, compassion and ability to see the missing piece may still reach and influence us intuitively from another world.

I expect this to be the case.

Dr. Mitch Ruda -  My Mentor, My Professor, My Colleague and Dearest Friend. The world lost one special person. The optics/physics communities have all benefited from Mitch's genius. Mitch was (fighting to stay with us) and would not let anyone know. I knew and we spoke almost daily until he left us. I will see you again my dear friend - the law of conservation of energy will make sure of that.

Mitch was my counselor at Camp High Point in the late 60's. Great memories and a great guy. My condolences to friends and family.

Mitch, It is hard to believe you're not here with us.  My most recent memory of you was skiing down the slopes at Lake Tahoe. You were in great, energetic, shape then - maybe 8 or 10 years ago?? Anyway, I will remember you in that way, brimming with life -- also dancing to Light My Fire at camp, wearing that big smile  on your face and of course,  the great stories you told. Were they all true?!  If so, it was certainly a life well lived.  Blessings and love, Helayne Waldman

In memory of Mitch. May his candle burn brightly always.

Mitch always had  a lot to say and there was always a lot going on. We called him "Broadway Mitch" while he was an undergraduate at Colgate.  He was a bright flame, as much Italian as I was Jewish.

News of Mitch's death just reached me via email. I knew Mitch for years, when we were both campers and then counselors at Camp High Point in New York. Though the last time I saw him was many years ago at a camp reunion, I'll always remember him for his intelligence and humor. Sincerest sympathy to his family.

Mitch Ruda was a very decent man.  He was among the best and most capable in his profession, yet meek and gracious to those who were learning.  Such was my experience with him.  I had always hoped to cross paths with him again.  I still hope to do so.

Mitch remembered:

Mitch Ruda came to my attention while he was a grad student, at U of A, working on the MMT.

I contracted Mitch to build some null devices for testing aspheric optics at General Dynamics (San Diego). That was 1978 and the beginning of a career long association.

Back around 1979, Mitch was a dinner guest at my home in Escondido. He was totally enraptured by the hazel nut cheesecake my wife prepared for dessert. Mitch begged my wife for the recipe. That was the first time there was any admission by Mitch that he was anything less than totally self-sufficient. A year or so later, Mitch called me specifically to thank me and my wife for the recipe. Turns out that hazel nut cheesecake is now loved by VIPs in Tucson-! Mitch got invitations to social engagements by the mayor of Tucson and other VIPs and requests that he bring Mitch's hazel nut cheesecake-!

Perhaps some of you did not know that Mitch was a gourmet chef-?

I was one of Mitch's co-chairs for Optical Alignment II (circa 1984).

Mitch was America's foremost subject matter expert on optical alignment and designing optics and opto-mechanics for manufacture. Every optical engineer would do well to study his work and that of Daniel Vukobratovich.

Some people thought Mitch over-sold himself, but he never failed to deliver on every promise. There are few men in this world for whom this is true. I found Mitch to be "golden" at everything he touched.
Over the years, many people asked me, "Is Mitch really that good? Can he deliver?"
To which I would say, "Mitch is almost as good as he thinks he is-!" To be fair and accurate, I ought to have said, “Mitch is every bit as good as he says he is.”

Bob Schalck and I enjoyed dinner with Mitch a few years back at Photonics West. There Bob and Mitch discussed how they learned to build their own telescopes while taught by the same instructor, but at different times of the day, and just missed meeting each other, by one half hour, until decades later. Both were alumni of the  Telescope Making Class at Hayden Planetarium, New York City many years ago (circa 1967, I think)-!

Robert E. Fischer, aka: Bob Fischer, of Optics 1, Hughes Aircraft Company, Itek Optical Systems, is another Hayden Planetarium ATM alumnus, and friend of Mitch. I forwarded Dick Buchroeder's communique to Bob Fischer.

 Another thing: Mitch's marriage to Wendy was the best thing that ever happened to his professional and personal life. Prior to marriage, Mitch's ego could not be contained within the giant hangar at NASA-Ames. After marriage, he understood he was a mere mortal. Nothing humbles a man like being married to a smart strong willed woman. Wendy made Mitch a better man. 

Mitch will be missed by everyone who knew him.

OBITUARY

Mitchell Curtis Ruda

May 29, 1950 – August 31, 2013

East Lawn Palms Mortuary & Cemetery

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