Richard T. Perron

Richard T. Perron, age 74, died of Parkinson’s Disease on Thursday December 21, 2017 at the Apple Valley Nursing Home in Ayer, MA. He was born on November 20, 1943 in Seattle, Washington to Theodore Noel and Marguerite Violet (York) Perron.
He attended Seattle public schools, and earned a B.S. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was one of the early students at the Institute to focus his studies on computer science. He served in the U.S. Air Force based in Afghanistan/Pakistan and Japan, with an honorable discharge 1970.He was married to Jeraldine (Waliszek) Perron for many years, and although they were divorced, maintained a close relationship until his death. He is survived by his son Richard T. Perron, Jr. and his wife Rebecca of Holliston MA, and daughter Cheryl-Lynn Budinger and her husband Bruce of Groton, MA. He is survived by his brother Robert Perron and his wife Colleen of Seattle, WA. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Libby, Henry and Poppy of Holliston, and Katie and Bruce of Groton, and by his brother-in-law, Donald Waliszek and his wife Joanne of York, Maine and their children and grandchildren. He is also survived by a long-time close family friend, Eileen Kurkoski of Newton, MA.yearHe started his thirty plus years engineering career at Raytheon in Norwood, MA. Later, he worked for many years at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and at Compaq, HP, Quantum, and Maxtor as each was acquired until he retired in 2002 due to illness. He helped develop the initial floppy disk and later specialized in computer mass storage systems.He served as an active board member of the Worcester chapter of the engineering society, IEEE, for a number of years. He served in leadership positions at the Federated Church of Norfolk, MA and the United Methodist Church of Westford, MA. He enjoyed following his children’s participation in Westford Soccer and coached his son’s team during a winning season.He had a particularly keen mind and very much enjoyed discussing in depth about a wide variety of topics with family and friends. He liked following sports, especially football. Listening to jazz was a favorite pastime.ARRANGEMENTS - A celebration of Richard’s life is planned in the spring, when family and close friends will be able to attend. Services will be private, with internment at the Massachusetts Veterans Cemetery.In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to http://www.parkinson.org/ or https://www.michaeljfox.org/PLEASE FOLLOW LINK FOR GUESTBOOK