OLSON, Richard G. Sept. 22, 2012 Age 89. Richard Gottlieb was born December 17, 1922, in Terre Haute, Indiana; son of Gottlieb W. and Lucille A. (Clifton) Olson. He was a veteran of World War II, serving from 1943-1946 with HQ Co; 1st Engineers Special Brigade, rising in rank from Pvt. to a SSG. He was one of the first to land on Utah Beach during D-Day. Shortly afterward, his unit was deployed to the Pacific, where he participated in the battle for Okinawa. He is survived by his beloved wife of 65 years, Virginia Ann (Abbinett) Olson. Dear father of Stephen (Janet) Olson and Mary Ann "Polly" Chevela (Phillip). Fond grandfather of Elizabeth M. Olson, Catherine L. (Aaron W.) VanProyen and David W. (Heather F.) Olson. Loving brother of Mary Virginia and the Late Helen May Rostek (Leonard J., brother-in-law and lifelong friend) all of Terre Haute, Indiana. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. He departed this life peacefully, at the Detroit VA Hospital on Saturday, leaving this world as Autumn arrived (the earliest one since 1896). Richard, or "Dick" as he was known to most of his family and friends; graduated with a BSEE, from Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute in 1947. The following day, on June 22nd, he married his life's partner, Virginia Ann Abbinett. He was a longtime employee of the Detroit Edison Co., working there from 1948-89. He received the Detroit Edison Phoenix Memorial Fellowship for training in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan in 1954 and a year later, in 1955, he received his MSE degree in Nuclear Engineering from U of M. His postgraduate studies included work from 1950-53 at Wayne State University and was a Michigan Memorial Fellow, 1954-55. He was the Control and Kinetics Manager for the Atomic Power Developement Association, Inc., Detroit, 1955-64; and was nameda National Science Foundation Fellow at the University of Massachusets in 1970. While serving as a special instructor in engineering at Wayne State University, he was named director of the Power Reactor Development Co. Computer Facilities and Training program, Detroit, 1959-67. As a Technical Work Leader, he was in charge of training the operational personnel for the plant, including dynamics, simulations and control systems, 1965-83. His teaching responsibilities included writing the test used to license the operators at the Enrico Fermi Power PlantI, on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When Fermi II began years later, he wrote the computer programs for both the plant Safety Systems and Fuel Management and became Edison's Senior Nuclear Fuel Engineer in 1982. His initial work with nuclear power as an energy source required that he meet and consult with Dr. Albert Einstein, at a hotel in Detroit in 1953-54. His son "Stevie", who at the time was a toddler, remembers sitting the the old man's lap and the two of them conversing about the beauty and wonder of a plaid pair of children's shoelaces! Dick's various memberships included the American Insitiute of Electrical Engineers, 1948, American Society for Engineering Education, 1949; the American Association of University Professors, 1947; Michigan Section, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Electronics Committee, 1948; Indiana State Board of Professional Engineers, 1948; Michigan Society of Professional Engineers, 1953; American Nuclear Society (awarded 1962); The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. (service award, 1954); American Management Association, Engineering Society of Detroit, 1949, and the Instrument Society of America. He belonged to the Atomic Power Development Association, Detroit, 1954-60, Power Reactor Development Co., 1960-65 and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants since 1975. He was a Special Instructor in Electrical Engineering at Wayne State University from 1948 to 1977; a Cons. nuclear Engineer from 1958, and a member of the Dearborn Citizens Educational Advisory Commission. Hw wrote the first computer course for Detroit Public School teachers and taught the course himself for nine years, 1966-1974. He was also an instructor in Computer Development at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, 1960-70. He authored and contributed articles to numerous professional journals, including the work, "Dynamics of Fast Breeder Reactor", in 1956, for which he won the Nucleonics Award in 1957; "Instrumentation and Control", in 1962 (Am. Nuclear Soc. Award, 1962 and Service, 1966). To his childen however, well, he was the Master Bedtime Storyteller, with one of his fictional characters, surviving for more than two generations of family bedtime storytelling. He loved learning, but, even more, loved sharing by teaching others what he learned. He taught numerous classes and seminars, from Sunday School to Computer Science, Engineering to Management; also mentoring countless young professionals, from all over the United States and from many foreign countries around the world. He belonged to anumber of honorary fraternities in college, among them, Tau Nu Tau, 1943; Alpha Tau Omega, 1946; Tau Beta Pi, 1946; National Honor Fraternity Blue Key, 1947. He was selected to appear in the 1946-47 Edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges from Rose Polytechnic Institute. His biography has been included in Who's Who in the Midwest publications for years. He was active with Cub, Boy and Eagle Scouts programs, sponsoring and mentoring many young men. Dick had a lifelong intellectual curiosity, with intersts as diverse as the sciences that he loved. His spirit of cooperation and inclusion, was based, in aprt, on what he saw as the inadequacy of words to accurately explain moe abstract concepts and ideas. When confronted with disagreement over wording, he sould simply say that,"...different words mean different things to different people", and proceeded to find a mutual consensus of meaning. The last of his Honors came on April 2, 2007, when he was one of seven World War II veterans presented with the "French Legion of Honor" by the Consul General of France in Chicago, at the Detroit VAMC. The medals were awarded to those veterans by the people of France for the part they played in liberating that country in 1944. Lastly, Dick was a man with a longstanding, constant and abding faith in His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This faith kept him strong and patient through the many years of suffering from Keratoconus since 1954., and the numerous unsuccessful or mininally successful corneal transplants that he underwent. He and his wife, Virginia Ann, are lifelong Dearborn residents, aside from having lived for a time as "snow birds" in Green Valley, Arizona. They have resided at Henry Ford Village in Dearborn, Michigan since 1997. Funeral Tues. 11 am from Henry Ford Village Chapel, 15101 Ford Rd., Dearborn. With Rev. Kurt Gebhard presiding. Visitation Tues. from 9am until time of service. Burial to follow at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, MI. In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Henry Ford Village Chapel, 15101 Ford Rd., Dearborn, MI 48126. Arrangements by the Dearborn Chapel of the Howe-Peterson Funeral Home. 313-561-1500.