"Richard Pirko was amazing. He had the widest array of interests and talents of anyone I have ever known. He wrote and produced planetarium shows, built auxiliary projectors, did artwork and graphics for our shows, wired the planetarium and installed the control system. Whenever physics equipment broke we took it to Rick and he repaired it. Whenever we needed a special electronic or mechanical device we took our problem to him and he designed and built the device.
"Some of my strongest memories of Rick centered around April Fools Day. One year we called Geology and left a note for the department chair, Earl Harris, to call Mr. Lyon and gave the phone number of the Pittsburgh Zoo.
"For years my wife Sandy looked forward to April 1st to see what prank Rick and his student assistants would play on me and other faculty. The pranks always occurred at the end of my last class. Once they dropped live chickens from behind the dome. The look of bewilderment on the student’s faces as the chickens flew down from the ceiling was wonderful. I imagine the look on my face was similar. The chickens lived out the rest of their days in the chicken coop on my farm.
"Another year Porky Pig appeared on the dome via the video projector and said “Th..Th..That’s all folks”. The next year George Bush ended class as he slowly descended as a cardboard cutout from behind the dome accompanied by the strains of “Hail to the Chief”. One of Richard Pirko’s best April 1st stunts was ending Edwin Bishop’s class with a god-like voice from behind the dome saying 'let my people go'.
"Rick’s passing is a great loss to the Youngstown State University planetarium and the planetarium community at large, to the physics department, and to the University. The greatest loss though is to us as his friends we will feel the loss every day."
letter of condolences from Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs, YSU
click to enlarge to read
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