With great sorrow and a profound sense of loss, we have learned of the passing of Ross Stone, the founding editor of our magazine.
With more than 45 years of experience in the field, Ross was a pillar and a model for many of us. Over his long professional life he impacted industry, consulting, and research in antennas, propagation, and related technologies. He served this journal for over 30 years as the magazine founding editor-in-chief. A generous volunteer, he was very active in several scientific and technical societies, and for over 20 years he was the editor of the Radio Science Bulletin of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). Ross was also very sensitive to the needs of young scientists and was committed to serve and educate the next generation of students and engineers, and he was always happy to help them and share his words of wisdom.
Ross Stone was born on 26 August 1947 in San Diego, California, USA. He graduated in 1963 at age 16 with academic distinction from Crawford High School in San Diego. In the same year, he received “Received Honors at Entrance” to San Diego State University, and two years later he entered the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In 1967, Ross received a BA in geophysics at age 19; he was one of seven to graduate in the first UCSD graduating class. After leaving his studies for three years, during which he was a physicist at Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems, La Jolla, California, he earned an M.Sc. in applied physics in 1973 and, during his activity as senior scientist at Megatek Corporation in San Diego, he earned his Ph.D. in applied physics in 1978 with a thesis entitled “The Concept, Design, and Operation of a Demonstration Holographic Radio Camera.”
From 1976 to today, Ross was the president of his company, Stoneware Limited, engaged in consulting and contract management, research, analysis, engineering, development, and testing for government agencies and industry. Ross managed to run his company since he was 28 years old, together with other professional activities. From 1969 to 1970 and from 1970 to 1972 he was physicist and senior physicist, respectively, in the Radiation Technology Division, Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems, La Jolla. He did research in the theory of field generation and propagation in plasmas and other dispersive media, antennas, field generation by charge transport, space-charge limiting, coupling to complex transmission lines, and radiation effects on materials. From June 1972 to August 1973 he was with the Engineering Division, Gulf General Atomic, La Jolla, California, with activity in assessment, specification, design, coding, and implementation of three major computer management information systems, for forecasting, budgeting, manufacturing, engineering, and personnel information, for a division of 435 employees. From August 1973 to May 1980 he was senior scientist at Megatek Corporation, San Diego. There, he was a program manager for Megavision, a Megatek entity that provided true 3D stereoscopic viewing of computer graphics and video displays. From May 1980 to November 1987 he was research advisor at the IRT Corporation, San Diego, with the activity of senior scientific advisor, consultant, and “information broker.” From September 1989 to July 1990 Ross was chief scientist of McDonnell Douglas Technologies Inc., a 440-employee subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas Corp. There, he directed technical work of over 250 scientists and engineers and was in charge of a US$7 million internal R&D program, with full budgetary authority and responsibility, with over 17 principal investigators. From October 1990 to April 1992 he was a chief scientist at Expersoft Corporation, a company providing leading-edge products and services utilizing new knowledge-engineering and reasoning techniques in the defense, agricultural, publishing, and training fields. He was part of corporate senior management and responsible for providing technical leadership in all business areas.
From May 1992 to January 1998 he was executive director of the Fund for International Scientific Interchange, a private benevolent fund primarily offering scholarships to people working in telecommunications in other countries to study in United States universities and, upon returning to their home countries, to improve telecommunications there. He organized and directed all aspects of the fund and scholarships provided by it, including complete financial responsibility and management of business operations, international relations, legal aspects, relationships with over 15 universities, and coordination of educational programs for over 35 foreign scholars. He represented the fund to leaders in telecommunications in over 40 countries, at all levels, from technicians to directors general of operating companies and deputy ministers of telecommunications. He organized and led 14 international workshops on telecommunications, with over 35 invited foreign technical experts from over 24 countries (topics covered all aspects of telecommunications, including switching, networks, outside plant, cellular and wireless, data communications, and satellite systems).
Ross was the inventor of the holographic radio camera: at the Prague General Assembly of URSI, which was the first opportunity the Russians working in this area had to really meet their Western counterparts, they told him that it was his dissertation on the holographic radio camera (which they obtained through University Microfilms) that led them to do all of the ionospheric tomography research. He had substantial research interests in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) measurements on loops and wire antennas, as well as in computational electromagnetics. He carried out analysis and modeling to assess EMP vulnerability and survivability of several army, air force, and navy strategic and tactical systems. Ross developed comprehensive models for predicting probability of detection and carried out system design for vehicles employing active and passive observables control. He carried out studies on contour determination of parabolic antennas, design of an experiment and analysis of the resulting data to measure coherence of laser propagation through clouds, and analysis of a very low frequency/extremely low frequency surface-wave radar for targets submerged in sea water. He did extensive systems analysis work; research in optical and electromagnetic propagation; and system design, development, documentation, and experimental verification of an optical heterodyne communications system, employing reciprocal pointing and tracking. He developed computer models of optical propagation and of an optical communication system involving an over-the-horizon scatter channel, and employed these models to interpret experimental results. His research activity has been published in more than 100 papers in scientific journals.
Ross was editor of several books. In 1982 he edited New Methods for Optical, Quasi-Optical, Acoustic, and Electromagnetic Synthesis (Proceedings Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers 294, Bellingham, WA, Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers; in 1989, he edited Radar Cross Sections of Complex Objects (Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press). From 1990 to 2002, he edited four books entitled The Review of Radio Science (1990–1992 and 1993–1996, published by Oxford University Press, in 1993 and 1996, respectively; 1996–1999 and 1999–2002, published by New York, Wiley/IEEE, in 1999 and 2002, respectively). From 2001 to the time of his passing, he was editor of the Radio Science Bulletin, a peer-reviewed archival publication of URSI. From 1984 to 1990 he was editor of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Newsletter, publishing 60 to 80 pages every two months to an international readership of 8,000; this newsletter was the precursor of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine that he founded in 1990, becoming its first and founding editor-in-chief, and which he served continuously for over 30 years.
Ross was an IEEE Fellow for “Contributions to the fields of inverse problems and computational electromagnetics,” a fellow of the Chinese Institute of Electronics (one of fewer than a dozen foreign fellows at the time of election), and a fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy. He was a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and one of the few Distinguished Service Award recipients from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S). He was an Honorary Life Member of the AP-S Administrative Committee (AdCom). He was a recipient of an award for supporting the International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, and a recipient of the Society for Technical Communication Award of Distinguished Technical Communication as editor-in-chief of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. He has been an adjunct professor of Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China. In 2015, he was recipient of the European Association on Antennas and Propagation (EurAAP) Award “for outstanding achievements in the field of antennas and for establishing and improving the relationships among Europe and USA in antennas and propagation.”
In recent news, he won the 2023 IEEE Richard M. Emberson Award, for distinguished service advancing the technical objectives of IEEE. The citation “For sustained contributions to and impactful leadership in the IEEE Technical Activities publication enterprise” well synthesizes his service. He probably didn’t have the pleasure to know about this award.
For his extraordinary capability in promoting new initiatives, Ross was a key person in the international communities for establishing and structuring large international societies and networks. He was extremely active in IEEE, URSI, and EurAAP. Concerning IEEE, he was a board member from 2005 to 2011 of the IEEE Publications Services and Products Board (PSPB), setting policy for and overseeing all IEEE publications; he was chair from 2007 to 2009 of the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Newsletters Committee, and a member of the IEEE Periodicals Committee and Periodicals Review Committee. From 2005 to 2007 he was a member of the IEEE TAB/PSPB Products and Services Committee, setting policy for and overseeing business aspects of all IEEE publications. He was a member and recently chair of the IEEE Press Liaison Committee of AP-S. Due to his outstanding service in AP-S, he was nominated as an honorary life member of AP-S AdCom.
Concerning URSI, he was a member of United States National Committee (USNC)-URSI, where he served as publication coordinator, and a delegate of commissions A, B, E, F, and G from the National Academy of Sciences from the XIX to the XXIX General Assemblies of URSI. He was a member of USNC-URSI Commissions A, B, E, F, and G. For 30 years, starting from 1993, he was chair of the URSI Standing Committee on Publications. He was also chair of the Committee for Revision of the URSI Statutes and a member of the URSI Long-Range Planning Committee. From 2001 to present he was assistant secretary general for publications of URSI.
Concerning EurAAP, he was since 2008 the AP-S representative in the Delegate Assembly of EurAAP, and since 2008 on the Board of the European School of Antennas and Propagation (ESoA). In this role, he promoted several initiatives in ESoA, playing a key role in establishing the ESoA courses in China. In the last six years of his life he was a member of the Board of Directors of EurAAP.
Ross was also a senior member of the Society for Technical Communications, a life member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association of Computing Machinery, the Optical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of America, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers, the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society, and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing.
Ross spent his life traveling all over the world for conferences and meetings. Unfortunately, since a few years ago, his mobility became limited, but this did not prevent him from continuing to travel. In the last two years Ross’ health substantially worsened, but nonetheless his commitment to AP-S and other societies was always strong until his last days. His last AP-S AdCom meeting was on 25 February 2023. The meeting was in Dubai in a time zone prohibitive for anybody in California. Despite this and his health conditions, he participated in the meeting from midnight to nine in the morning, interacting with all of the meeting members and giving, as always, sage advice.
Ross Stone passed away on 29 March 2023. Although it is hard to express how much we will miss him, the magazine, together with his colleagues and friends, would like to honor him with this in memoriam and remember the important role he had in our antennas and propagation community.
—Francesco Andriulli
Editor in Chief of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine
—Stefano Maci
2023 President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S)
Mahta Moghaddam, 2020 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society president, 2015–2019 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine editor-in-chief:
Ross was and is the quintessential ambassador of the AP-S. His knowledge of how the society and the IEEE worked were boundless, his generosity with this time immeasurable, and the sincerity of his actions unquestionable. I observed all of these throughout the three-and-a-half decades that I had known him. This started with the time when I first met him in 1988 in Syracuse, New York, the first time that as a graduate student I attended the AP-S/URSI annual flagship conference. Ross came to my talk, and afterward he engaged in a most interesting and insightful technical discussion, providing the kind encouragement that is immensely inspiring to any graduate student. I had the honor of working closely with Ross on IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine in 2015, when he passed the baton to me as the editor-in-chief. He worked with me and Christina as we went through the process of transitioning the magazine to a new format. He spent countless hours assembling information about the magazine from his 30+ years at its helm. I experienced first-hand his collaborativeness and true care for the magazine and for the AP-S. He continued to be generous with his time during my time as IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine editor-in-chief, when he continued writing his “From the Screen of Stone” column and answering many questions I had for him about various editorial processes. He was also a pleasure to work with during the AdCom meetings, none of which he had missed in decades. We could always count on Ross to have the most accurate, contextual, and up-to-date information relevant to conducting AP-S business.
Ross, we will miss you, your kindness, and your insights. You will always be with us.
David R. Jackson:
Dear Ross,
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful service that you gave to all of us, including AP-S, EurAAP, USNC-URSI, and URSI. You set a standard for service that will always be remembered by us. Your leadership in selflessly serving the scientific communities that you were associated with was truly inspiring, and much appreciated by those communities. On a personal note, I’ll miss getting those e-mails from you that always ended with “best wishes.” Our best wishes to you now as you embark on your next journey. We will miss you.
Bertram Arbesser-Rastburg:
I first met Ross at an URSI General Assembly and I was impressed by his wealth of knowledge but equally attracted by his pleasant character.
When we started the EurAAP organization, Ross came and helped us in many ways. In particular, when it came to signing a memorandum of understanding with URSI, IEEE, the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, and the International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP), he gave invaluable advice. Ross was the only non-European member of the EurAAP Steering Committee and it was always a pleasure to have him in our midst with his friendly smile. He always helped us to find good solutions to all the problems we encountered and he never complained about anything. He was a friend and a true gentleman. We will all miss him.
Rest in peace, dear Ross!
Rick Ziolkowski:
I knew Ross for nearly 40 years. We first met during an AP-S/URSI conference in the early 1980s and we had interacted at that annual meeting every year since then, as well as at many European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), ISAP, and URSI events.
Ross was a consummate volunteer in the international antennas and propagation and URSI communities. His knowledge and advice on publications was unparalleled. They were invaluable to me when I was an AP-S AdCom member, particularly when I was the AP-S president.
I will sorely miss a special friend, as will many in the antennas and propagation/URSI communities. My heart and special condolences go out to his wife, Sue, for her significant loss.
Laura Creighton, director of Society Programs and Audience Engagement at IEEE:
My heart is truly saddened by Ross’ passing. He’s become a great friend who provided plenty of hearty laughs and sage advice through the decades as we’ve both poured our care and efforts into IEEE. He had a warm smile every week in our regular video meetings, and consistently entertained us with stories from his many travels and experiences. I’ll be thinking of Ross each time I reach for my ham radio (he was a real encourager) and each time I look at the stunning bay photograph he took and had stretched onto canvas for my wall. I hope his family can find solace in the many, many good memories people will be sharing about Ross. I’m sending prayers for your peace, Ross, and know you are still smiling on us all.
Karl Warnick:
Early in my career, Ross sought me out at a conference and suggested that I write an article for IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine on the research I was working on at the time. Being new to a community as large as the AP-S, it was meaningful to me to have someone with a kind and personal touch recognize the value of my work. In the years since that time, Ross became a friend and colleague to me as well as to many others in our society. Thank you, Ross, for what you have meant to all of us.
Constantine A. Balanis:
I was saddened to hear of Ross’ passing. For all the years that I attended the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, which spanned a few decades, Ross was there and always greeted us with a smile. His life was devoted to IEEE, especially the AP-S and URSI. He contributed significantly at all levels, especially being the founder and editor-in-chief of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, which he served with honor for 30 years. He will be missed dearly, and I extend my condolences to his wife Sue and loved ones. May his memory be eternal.
Gianluca Lazzi, 2022 past president of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society:
I have known Ross for nearly 30 years. He was a pillar of the AP-S. Those who knew him well will attest to the fact that he was a visionary leader, broadly appreciated by many, including AP-S members, AP-S leadership, and IEEE at large. Ross was unique, bringing experience, insights, wit, and humor to the many meetings I have participated in with him. He will be greatly missed.
Cynthia Furse:
Ross was so welcoming and supportive when I first came to the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium as a young graduate student, over 25 years ago. His quick smile and genuine care for me and all of our young AP-S members made me feel a part of the society. As the editor of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Ross loved that magazine. He cared so much, grew many new initiatives, such as the “Education” column, inclusion of patents, and feature articles of all kinds. As I grew and eventually became a member of AdCom, Ross was the rock that everyone turned to for details on how IEEE runs, how IEEE publications worked, and how we could collectively work together to move our society forward. AP-S has grown so very much in that time, and Ross has been a solid foundation, consistently helping AP-S with care and determination.
George Uslenghi, president of the International Union of Radio Science, 2001 past president of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society:
Ross Stone and I had been friends for decades. I knew that his health was declining, but his death on March 29 still came as a shock to me. I remember when he injured his leg by falling at an URSI meeting in Ghent, Belgium several years ago. He never completely recovered from that injury, which eventually led to an antibiotic-resistant infection spreading to his kidneys. Through years of pain and hospital stays, Ross fought hard to regain his health, never lost hope, never wavered in his commitments, and never relinquished any of the many chores, which he had taken on to benefit professional societies. His contributions to IEEE, URSI, EuCAP, and Microwave, Antenna, Propagation and EMC Technologies for Wireless Communications (MAPE) have left a permanent, beneficial imprint on those organizations. His outstanding work as editor-in-chief of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine and the Radio Science Bulletin is especially noteworthy. I remember his multiyear efforts to maintain and strengthen the connection between AP-S and USNC-URSI, resulting, in particular, in a renewed memorandum of understanding that he worked out with Roberto Graglia and me at the 2019 AP-S AdCom Meeting in Granada, Spain. Ross and I coauthored the USNC chapter in the book 100 Years of the International Union of Radio Science three years ago. That was our last intimate collaboration, although we continued working together at meetings of the URSI board until a few months ago.
I have so many personal and social memories of Ross! He used to visit Chicago in winters when his daughter Michele was a student in criminal justice at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and later complain to me about the brutal cold and his inability to move against the howling wind on campus. Ross’ wife Sue and my wife Shelly met often at conferences and became friends. At the 2019 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory in San Diego, California, Sue drove us to a memorable visit to Safari Park. The four of us met for the last time for dinner at a restaurant in Denver, Colorado during the AP-S/URSI symposium in July 2022. Ross was obviously ill and in pain, but he managed to sound optimistic. His passing has left a big void among his many friends and colleagues. Shelly’s and my deepest condolences go to his wife Sue, his daughter Michele, and their family.
Yahya Rahmat-Samii, Ross’ friend and colleague, 1995 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society president, 2008–2011 United States National Committee/International Union of Radio Science chair:
Dear colleagues and admirers of Ross,
There are certain people in one’s life that you always rely on and admire. Ross was for sure one of them. His knowledge of so many diverse topics and his unbounded dedication to stay engaged and contribute was beyond any one’s expectation. He was for sure the encyclopedia of our AP-S and URSI organizations.
I knew Ross at the very beginning of my career, going back to the 1980s, and he and his lovely wife were always very generous toward me. We exchanged holiday best wishes cards for the longest time. Yes, cards! He was always willing to write super strong recommendation letters for me and he was for sure one of the reasons I got some of my awards. Forever I will cherish my time spent talking to Ross, learning from him, and appreciating his willingness to help. There will be no replacement of Ross in our careers and for sure we will all miss his presence in our future AP-S AdCom, USNC, and URSI meetings. The power of his pen elevated the production of our publications. He so uniquely served on so many of our major publications for the longest time. During his editorship of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, I interacted with him on many occasions as a reviewer, special issue editor, and contributor of many articles with cover page publications. Once he told me that he read every page of every issue of the magazine before going into the final production! I strongly believe that he was for sure the only one who could do that.
I can go forever talking about him, as he was so involved in my professional career when I served as 1995 president of AP-S and 2009–2011 chair of USNC-URSI. His depth of operating knowledge and remembering the history of these organizations were tremendous assets to all leaders of these organizations. He always willingly and enthusiastically helped all of us and made our technical organizations more progressive and stronger.
I already miss his presence and I wish his lovely wife, Sue, and his family patience in these difficult days. He is going to be admired and remembered for the longest time.
Juan R. Mosig, European Association on Antennas and Propagation founder, IEEE Life Fellow:
I will always remember Ross Stone as a towering figure in our community. Since our first exchanges, more than 20 years ago, motivated by my attempt at publishing an unusual paper in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, I found I was facing a most unusual person. He was an experienced editor, but also a great researcher, a strong team leader, and an excellent manager and organizer. And with him, the whole was much more than the sum of its parts.
From that time on, our acquaintance became a true friendship and he was an essential actor in the success of our EurAAP and of its EuCAP conference. Things would have been much more difficult, not to say impossible, without his unconditional help.
Ross was a very generous person, fully dedicated to the service of our community. I will miss his reassuring presence and I will never forget him.
Cyril Mangenot, European Association on Antennas and Propagation past president:
I will always keep in mind my relations with Ross. He was a unique person, talented in so many respects and at the same time so humble. Ross’ smile and politeness, even when he had to mark his disapproval for what you just said, is memorable. The way Ross expressed himself was always so well formulated and so well argued that you quickly were convinced what he said was the right path.
Ross has been instrumental for EurAAP, always positively thinking and acting for the benefit of the worldwide AP-S, irrespective of which association/organization entered into the play.
Not only was Ross a strong actor at the technical level but also a very friendly colleague, first as member of the EuCAP Steering Committee and later on elected as director within the EurAAP Board of Directors I was chairing at the time. During this time period it was always such a pleasure to meet Ross and Sue at each EuCAP edition until the illness forced him not to travel.
My message is for you, Sue and Michele, for the memory of Ross.
Stefania Monni, European Association on Antennas and Propagation president:
Dear Ross, dear friend,
The first time I received a message from you, as a freshly elected member of the EurAAP Board of Directors, I was pleasantly surprised by such a kind epithet.
But this is how you started all your messages, to all of us. Very soon I learned that the meaning and weight of this word was far beyond referring to an existing relationship. It expressed an attitude [toward] your fellows, a profound sense of shared intentions and objectives, a complete abnegation, which led you to put yourself at the total service of the community, your great benevolence for others, your patience, your kindness, the ability to smooth out the tones and postpone the offenses, in the name of the common interest.
Your continuous support and positivity has been key to the growth and consolidation of our association.
We will greatly miss you, Ross, but your memory will always remain in our hearts and your legacy will continue inspiring our work.
Oscar Quevedo Teruel, Reviews of Electromagnetics editor-in-chief, European Association on Antennas and Propagation vice-president:
It is with great sadness that we say farewell to you, but we take comfort in the memories of the time we spent working alongside you. You were a true asset to our team, always eager to lend your vast expertise on publication policies and offer a helping hand to anyone in need.
As a fellow member of the Board of Directors of EurAAP, I had the honor of serving alongside you, and your contributions were invaluable. We will always be grateful for the instrumental role you played in establishing EurAAP’s first journal, Reviews of Electromagnetics.
Your legacy will continue to live on in the many lives you touched and the countless contributions you made to our community. You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten.
Thank you, Ross, for everything you did for us. You will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Manuel Sierra Castañer, former European Association on Antennas and Propagation vice-president:
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful service you gave to the antenna and propagation community. Your service to IEEE, URSI, and EurAAP was inspiring for all of the community. Thanks a lot for your years at the EurAAP board. There, I had the opportunity to know your professional and work capacity.
We will miss you.
Thomas Kürner, former European Association on Antennas and Propagation Board of Directors member:
When I first met Ross at the AP-S and USRI Symposium at London, Ontario, Canada in 1991, I was a young Ph.D. student and could not imagine that many years later I would have the privilege and pleasure to work with him very closely. From 2018 to 2021 we were both members of the EurAAP Board of Directors. This period includes the pandemic and we had to answer many difficult questions and solve complicated situations. In these situations, I always appreciated Ross’ calm way of providing valuable advice, always showing us good ways out, frequently with a smile.
Thank you Ross for the great collaboration. We all will miss you.
Jennifer T. Bernhard, 2008 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society president:
Ross Stone was a dear and trusted friend, mentor, and colleague. His dedication to our profession and our society was unmatched. His positive contributions to both will endure as part of his legacy. His passing leaves a hole in the fabric of my professional life that I find difficult to describe because it touches upon so many years and so many aspects of our work together. I know that we will continue to be reminded of his contributions and impact for years to come. He will be greatly missed.
Branislav M. Notaros, president elect of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, former chair of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Meetings Committee, and Joint Meetings Committee chair of USNC-URSI Commission B:
I knew Ross for decades and worked very closely with him the last several years on our conferences and meetings. He was a living library and archive, and a go-to colleague and friend. He was a resource not only to his fellow AP-S and URSI volunteers but also to IEEE staff and officials, which I witnessed on several occasions. “Let’s ask Ross” was a last resort when the other sources of information failed. His responsiveness, promptness, and resourcefulness were unmatched, indeed. I am very glad and thankful that he was able to help us with the AP-S/URSI Conference in Denver, Colorado, that I chaired last July, as the only electromagnetic community event he attended in person during the last three-and-a-half years of his incredibly fruitful life and career. He was obviously not doing well physically, but was vividly excited and happy to reunite and interact face to face with so many colleagues and friends after three long years of pandemic separation. Recent messages from his beloved wife Sue were indicating the heartbreaking outcome, but when the final news came it was so hard to believe and understand that we will not be working and communicating with Ross any longer. It is comforting to know that he had Sue’s unparalleled love, care, and support to the last moment. Our professional community, most notably AP-S and URSI, was his extended family, truly and literally. He not only worked but lived for this family for many decades, every day, until the last one. As an “everyday” example of an immediate impact of his absence, we are already struggling to make up for things that he was so routinely and swiftly doing for AP-S, URSI, EurAAP, and others in the organization of our conferences and meetings. Ross will be deeply and dearly missed, as a colleague, visionary, and friend.
Anja Skrivervik, past European Association on Antennas and Propagation treasurer:
Ross Stone was a pillar of our community. His contributions to research, editorial work, and his leadership represented a beacon for the antenna and propagation community over many decades. But we will mostly miss his friendship, kindness, and immense human values.
May he rest in peace.
Koichi Ito, 2019 past president of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society:
In my eyes, so many memorable pictures with Ross came and went. Ross and Sue invited me to a dinner on the occasions of international conferences and meetings, such as AP-S/URSI annual symposia and IEEE organization unit meetings. Ross carefully chose a good restaurant and sent me a menu of the restaurant. I really enjoyed the dinner as well as chatting with Ross and Sue, and learned a lot from them.
Ross was a great supporter and promoter of antennas and propagation-related international conferences in Asia, as well including MAPE and ISAP. As for ISAP, Ross tremendously supported and attended the conferences for many years. When I served as general chair of ISAP 2012 in Japan, we negotiated with IEEE for inclusion of papers in the IEEE Xplore for the first time. We couldn’t have succeeded without Ross. Thank you, Ross, for everything.
Raj Mittra, long-time friend of Ross and Sue Stone:
I was in the process of making my flight reservations for the trip to Portland, Oregon, when I received an e-mail from Pres. Stefano Maci in which he asked me to say a few words about Ross Stone, who passed away recently. I was totally stunned when I went through the e-mail, and it took me awhile to accept the fact that Ross won’t be in Portland this July for the upcoming antennas and propagation meeting. I have been a regular at the AP-S/URSI meetings for the last—I don’t know how many—years, and I have always seen Ross’ cheerful face at these meetings. But, alas, Ross won’t be there anymore and we will all miss him terribly.
Much has already been said by other distinguished members of AP-S about our friend Ross Stone, who was indisputably one of the “giants” in our field. So, I’m only going to make a few brief comments about Ross, but put in a bit of personal touch to them. I believe that I can claim to have known Ross for the longest time, perhaps longer than anyone else in the AP-S, and it has been a very pleasant journey together. More importantly, Ross has been a mentor to me for most of my academic life and has endorsed me for several awards, both AP-S and URSI. Strong endorsements from him undoubtedly played a very significant role in my winning many of these awards in just one try. Finally, I published a bunch of articles in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine—several of them travelogues—when Ross was the editor, and he would always help me in many ways by polishing the manuscripts and sorting out the copyright issues, etc. I thank Ross from the bottom of my heart for all he has done for me, and my life would never be the same without him being around as a mentor. Ross, I will miss you terribly my friend, and I do hope that you have found other people to help up there, wherever you may be.
Ahmed A. Kishk, 2017 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society president:
I started working with Ross in the late 1980s as an associate editor for the feature article of the newsletters and continued with him on IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine as a feature article editor until 2015. I was always amazed while working with him by his contribution to each issue as he edited every word of the magazine. This was beyond any expectation. He liked his work and never denied any excellent idea to establish a new column proposed by members of the society. When I joined AdCom, he was an Honorary Life Member of the IEEE AP-S AdCom. He never missed a meeting and always contributed his long experience and knowledge to all new members. He was also accommodating in helping me with the new journal proposal that changed later before starting with IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation. I am so grateful to Ross for all of his help; he was always available to discuss any matter over the phone. Not enough words describe the sadness of missing him, knowing I will not see him in the next meeting with his smile and nice welcoming words. My deep sympathy to Sue and his family members, and we all know that he is in a better place; that is the destiny of all.
Michael Jensen, 2016 past president of Antennas and Propagation Society:
I am grateful to Ross for all of his service to AP-S and IEEE, and I have been amazed at the breadth of his experience and knowledge. But what I will remember most about Ross is his kindness and professionalism. I spent my career observing him in many capacities, and in every case he demonstrated respect for his colleagues, even during difficult times. To me personally, he was a mentor and friend, and I will miss him.
Michael Newkirk, chair of United States National Committee-International Union of Radio Science:
Dear colleagues,
There are no words to express my sadness upon learning of Ross’ passing. While I was aware of his health issues, I had hoped that he would recover and continue to support the organizations that he was so devoted to: AP-S, USNC-URSI, and URSI itself. The last time I spoke to him he sounded quite positive and upbeat, which I thought was a promising sign. I was looking forward to the possibility of seeing him in Portland, Oregon this summer. This is truly sad news and my thoughts and prayers are with Sue and their family and friends.
There is no question that Ross is irreplaceable, both to his family and our organizations. I have known Ross since my first attendance at a National Radio Science Meeting in Boulder, Colorado when I was a graduate student. I was amazed that he seemed to know everyone and everything about URSI. Who knew that all these years later I would be working alongside him for the benefit of our organizations. I will miss not only his deep historical knowledge of AP-S and URSI, but also his keen sense of humor and most of all his friendship and kindness. Ross worked tirelessly for both organizations, so I am glad to help recognize his unique contributions. We mourn his loss and are comforted that he can now rest in peace.
With a heavy heart.
Weng Cho Chew, 2018 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society president:
Ross has been an important resource to our society. His indefatigable energy is most admirable. He is like a walking encyclopedia. Deepest condolences to Sue.
Sue Stone:
Ross spent his time on the things he loved: family, IEEE, URSI, EurAAP, MAPE. He never considered his volunteer hours work; it brought him great satisfaction. He looked forward to the conferences where he could interact in person with his colleagues. I am thankful I could accompany him and be a part of what was so important to him. The friendships we made enriched our lives and I appreciate the outpouring of support from so many. He is missed.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MAP.2023.3269213