Dr. Stearman passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 21, 2020, at the age of 88 after a brief illness. He was born June 8, 1932, to Glenn Arthur Stearman and Coral Harriet (Strickland) Stearman in Wichita, Kansas, grew up around the family's aircraft company, and had a lifelong love of aviation. Ronald earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1955 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956 and 1961.
Ronald was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and continued to serve as an aviation safety consultant after his retirement. During his time in the department, Stearman’s research focused on structural dynamics and aero elasticity with emphasis on the development of analytical/experimental nonlinear system identification techniques. He was honored with a Computerworld Smithsonian Award (1999) in the Transportation Division for his team's innovative work on utilizing the structural acoustics sounds on a cockpit voice recorder to identify the cause of an airliner accident. He was also a private pilot and longtime member of the AIAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ronald married Beverly Irene Unger on September 1, 1957. They shared almost 57 years of marriage and raised two children together in their Northwest Austin home. Ronald was a devoted father and grandfather and often took his children on Saturday afternoon flying outings in a rented Cessna and played duets with his grandchildren on his clarinet. He was a faithful member of the University United Methodist Church for 51 years. He will be remembered fondly for wearing colorful bolo ties with a Longhorn jacket, but even more for his love of family, trusting heart, and Texas-sized sense of humor. Ronald is preceded in death by his wife Beverly; sister Guyna Stearman Russell; and survived by his sisters Glenna Park and Suzanne Garen-Fazio and children Gregory Stearman and Jennifer Harrison plus six grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His family is very grateful to the loving teams at Franklin Park Round Rock and Encompass Home Health and Hospice who took great care of him and remained at his side with us. The family would like to direct memorial donations in his honor to the Code2College Vision 2024 initiative supporting the placement of 200 black and Latino women into STEM roles by 2024 at https://code2college.org/Vision-2024.
Ronald was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and continued to serve as an aviation safety consultant after his retirement. During his time in the department, Stearman’s research focused on structural dynamics and aero elasticity with emphasis on the development of analytical/experimental nonlinear system identification techniques. He was honored with a Computerworld Smithsonian Award (1999) in the Transportation Division for his team's innovative work on utilizing the structural acoustics sounds on a cockpit voice recorder to identify the cause of an airliner accident. He was also a private pilot and longtime member of the AIAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ronald married Beverly Irene Unger on September 1, 1957. They shared almost 57 years of marriage and raised two children together in their Northwest Austin home. Ronald was a devoted father and grandfather and often took his children on Saturday afternoon flying outings in a rented Cessna and played duets with his grandchildren on his clarinet. He was a faithful member of the University United Methodist Church for 51 years. He will be remembered fondly for wearing colorful bolo ties with a Longhorn jacket, but even more for his love of family, trusting heart, and Texas-sized sense of humor. Ronald is preceded in death by his wife Beverly; sister Guyna Stearman Russell; and survived by his sisters Glenna Park and Suzanne Garen-Fazio and children Gregory Stearman and Jennifer Harrison plus six grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His family is very grateful to the loving teams at Franklin Park Round Rock and Encompass Home Health and Hospice who took great care of him and remained at his side with us. The family would like to direct memorial donations in his honor to the Code2College Vision 2024 initiative supporting the placement of 200 black and Latino women into STEM roles by 2024 at https://code2college.org/Vision-2024.
Dr. Stearman passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 21, 2020, at the age of 88 after a brief illness. He was born June 8, 1932, to Glenn Arthur Stearman and Coral Harriet (Strickland) Stearman in Wichita, Kansas, grew up around the family's aircraft company, and had a lifelong love of aviation. Ronald earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1955 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956 and 1961.
Ronald was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and continued to serve as an aviation safety consultant after his retirement. During his time in the department, Stearman’s research focused on structural dynamics and aero elasticity with emphasis on the development of analytical/experimental nonlinear system identification techniques. He was honored with a Computerworld Smithsonian Award (1999) in the Transportation Division for his team's innovative work on utilizing the structural acoustics sounds on a cockpit voice recorder to identify the cause of an airliner accident. He was also a private pilot and longtime member of the AIAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ronald married Beverly Irene Unger on September 1, 1957. They shared almost 57 years of marriage and raised two children together in their Northwest Austin home. Ronald was a devoted father and grandfather and often took his children on Saturday afternoon flying outings in a rented Cessna and played duets with his grandchildren on his clarinet. He was a faithful member of the University United Methodist Church for 51 years. He will be remembered fondly for wearing colorful bolo ties with a Longhorn jacket, but even more for his love of family, trusting heart, and Texas-sized sense of humor. Ronald is preceded in death by his wife Beverly; sister Guyna Stearman Russell; and survived by his sisters Glenna Park and Suzanne Garen-Fazio and children Gregory Stearman and Jennifer Harrison plus six grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His family is very grateful to the loving teams at Franklin Park Round Rock and Encompass Home Health and Hospice who took great care of him and remained at his side with us. The family would like to direct memorial donations in his honor to the Code2College Vision 2024 initiative supporting the placement of 200 black and Latino women into STEM roles by 2024 at https://code2college.org/Vision-2024.
Ronald was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and continued to serve as an aviation safety consultant after his retirement. During his time in the department, Stearman’s research focused on structural dynamics and aero elasticity with emphasis on the development of analytical/experimental nonlinear system identification techniques. He was honored with a Computerworld Smithsonian Award (1999) in the Transportation Division for his team's innovative work on utilizing the structural acoustics sounds on a cockpit voice recorder to identify the cause of an airliner accident. He was also a private pilot and longtime member of the AIAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ronald married Beverly Irene Unger on September 1, 1957. They shared almost 57 years of marriage and raised two children together in their Northwest Austin home. Ronald was a devoted father and grandfather and often took his children on Saturday afternoon flying outings in a rented Cessna and played duets with his grandchildren on his clarinet. He was a faithful member of the University United Methodist Church for 51 years. He will be remembered fondly for wearing colorful bolo ties with a Longhorn jacket, but even more for his love of family, trusting heart, and Texas-sized sense of humor. Ronald is preceded in death by his wife Beverly; sister Guyna Stearman Russell; and survived by his sisters Glenna Park and Suzanne Garen-Fazio and children Gregory Stearman and Jennifer Harrison plus six grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His family is very grateful to the loving teams at Franklin Park Round Rock and Encompass Home Health and Hospice who took great care of him and remained at his side with us. The family would like to direct memorial donations in his honor to the Code2College Vision 2024 initiative supporting the placement of 200 black and Latino women into STEM roles by 2024 at https://code2college.org/Vision-2024.
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