Dr. Richard Paul Kelisky

Dr. Richard Kelisky

Age 92, passed away peacefully with family and friends at his side on Monday, January 24, 2021 in White Plains, NY. Richard was born in St Louis, MO on November 27, 1929 and raised in Lubbock, TX by his parents, Sam and Sadie where he also grew up with his brother Maury.

He received a Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957 under Harry Vandiver, a prominent mathematician. He was then employed by IBM’s Thomas J Watson Research Center as a mathematician, where he authored and co-authored many significant papers including one on response times and productivity still referred to in today’s internet economy. He went on to have a highly successful 30 year career in IBM Research becoming the head of the Computing department in the 1970s and then the Director of Operations in in the 1980s.

It was his move to NY where he met and married his beloved wife Nicole in 1960. Although they settled in White Plains, they travelled the world together and were the true definition of soulmates. A Hollywood story if there ever was one.

Richard was a very humble but immensely accomplished and talented man. His passions for music, art, science, culture, and language combined with his ability to consume knowledge, retain, and share his joy in it with humour and humility, while never taking himself too seriously made him the best company in any setting, anywhere in the world. He was a true renaissance man.

Richard loved his son and family immensely. Something he told them all the time. “It is something that cannot be said too often”.

Richard is survived by his son of 56 years, Jeff, and his spouse, Helen, and his grandchildren Sophie and Alexander as well as many friends and family around the world, who shall miss him deeply.

Services will be held on Sunday, January 30, 2022, at 11am at 2 Maple Ave, White Plains, NY 10601. The family prefer memorials in his memory to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research or The Audubon Society.