Richard Meade Heinz, 84, passed away peacefully on Nov. 20, 2023 under hospice care at Las Ventanas Retirement Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, after a long and courageous battle with congestive heart failure. Richard was born in 1939 in Toledo, Ohio to Arthur and Mildred Heinz. He attended Toledo University, graduating with a degree in engineering science. He then went on to the University of Michigan for graduate school and obtained a PhD in physics in 1963.
Richard accepted a professorial position at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he went on to teach and do research for more than 40 years. He specialized in high-energy physics related to the study of subatomic particles and worked at many famous physics labs including CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. Later in his career Richard worked on a large (football-field size) detector under the Gran Sasso Mountain in Italy, studying cosmic rays as they travel through the earth. His influence on the field of physics is impressive, not only because of his own work, but also through the teaching and research of his many students.
During his time in Bloomington, Richard enjoyed tennis and playing cards, particularly bridge and poker, and became a competitive tournament backgammon player. Richard especially enjoyed Indiana basketball — Go Hoosiers! — and had season tickets for many years, enjoying notable events like the undefeated season in 1976 and the Bobby Knight chair throwing incident in 1985! Richard also became an avid skier after discovering the sport in Switzerland during one of his first assignments at CERN. After spending several summers at the Aspen Center for Physics and falling in love with the majesty of the Roaring Fork Valley, Richard purchased a ski condo in Snowmass.
Following his retirement from Indiana University in 2006, Richard moved to Colorado full-time, settling in Carbondale. It was there he met his partner, Polly Whitcomb, with whom he shared the later years of his life. He enjoyed years of hiking, skiing, golf, tennis, summer music in the tent and friends, new and old. He also volunteered with many organizations including the Music Associates, Ski Ambassadors, Aspen Food and Wine and the Wheeler Opera House.
Richard was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Donald. He is survived by his partner, sons, Andrew Heinz (Tina) and Tim Heinz, and nephew, Brad Heinz. He will be remembered for his humor, enthusiasm and appreciation of the natural world.