Herbert E. Rauch
Oct. 6, 1935-March 29, 2011
Los Altos, California
Submitted by Marta Rauch
Herbert E. Rauch, Control Systems Pioneer
Herb Rauch, 75, died on March 29 of metastatic melanoma, shortly before his 50th wedding anniversary. He passed away peacefully at his home in Los Altos, surrounded by loving family.
He left his wife Margie; his children Marta, Erik, and Loren, and their families, including five grandchildren; his sister Joanne Nelson; and his cousin John Forster and family. He was predeceased by his son Evan, in whose honor he had endowed the U. C. Berkeley ?Evan Rauch Chair of Neuroscience.?
Born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri, Herb moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico at age 13 with his parents, Herbert and Vera, and sister, Joanne. His electrical engineering interest was piqued by an early morning noncredit radio course taken his senior year in high school.
He received his BS from the California Institute of Technology, and his MS and Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in Electrical Engineering. At CalTech, he was active in journalism, student government, drama, and the Tau Beta Pi honor society. He also lettered in Varsity basketball, and was elected president of the student electrical engineering organization.
While at Stanford, he met Margie, the love of his life. As he always said, ?the best thing ever? happened when they were married in 1961. They made their home in Los Altos, where they raised their children, Marta, Erik, Evan, and Loren.
A devoted father, Herb loved to spend time with his family. He encouraged his kids in school and in sports, and was assistant coach for his daughter?s A.Y.S.O soccer team, The Valkyries, and his sons? CYSA soccer teams. To help enable good education, he served two terms on the Los Altos School District School Board. He always remembered his family on holidays and birthdays, and they looked forward to his thoughtful cards and letters.
For many years, Herb was employed at the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory (now called Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center), where his area of expertise was control systems. With John V. Breakwell, he wrote several papers on interplanetary trajectories, including creating a Venus swing-by trajectory that was part of an optimal low thrust Earth-Mars-Earth round trip. This work led to the development of the Rauch-Tung-Striebel (R-T-S) algorithm, which is now used for tracking interplanetary spacecraft and earth satellites. He was recognized at Lockheed with numerous service awards, including the Robert E. Gross award for Technical Excellence.
Among his many notable contributions to the engineering field were his terms as President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society, and Editor-in-Chief of three publications: the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, the IEEE Control Systems Magazine, and the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, of which he was Founding Editor. He was also Associate Editor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Journal, and Chairman of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Working Group on Control Applications of Nonlinear Programming. In the course of his career, he published numerous technical papers and gave many lectures on his work.
In recognition of his pioneering contributions and leadership in the field of optimal estimation and control, he was elected an IEEE Life Fellow, as well as Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Fellow of the American Astronautical Society; and Fellow of the IEEE Control Systems Society. He received the IEEE Control Systems Distinguished Member award for his significant technical contributions and outstanding long-term service to the Control Systems Society. An IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, he enjoyed traveling with his wife for his many presentations and keynote addresses at technical conferences around the world.
After retiring, Herb advised PhD candidates at Stanford University, consulted in the aerospace industry, and enjoyed traveling to visit his many dear friends, participating in college reunions, and attending plays locally and at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In the last several years, he developed an interest in creative writing, and took writing seminars that spurred him to write a series of short stories that delighted his family and friends. He also enjoyed time with his beloved wife and his children, their families, and his five grandchildren.
Herb?s delightful wit, intellectual passion, creativity, kindness, and caring will be greatly missed by his family, colleagues, and friends.
Tags: teacher/educator, business, public service
