"Nope, we haven't heard anything here."

Tim Bole wrote this October 24:

"In memoriam: Rick Pirko

"To quantify the effect that Rick has had on my life is a difficult task, and putting it in words is even more so. Rick did not set out to change anyone, but spending significant quantities of time with Rick certainly meant some of his charm would rub off on you. Rick was a kindhearted,
fun-loving, eccentric, very intelligent and clever man. He delighted in passing to students his innumerable skills in electronics, lighting, photography and general problem solving. His genius truly lied in his ability to use whatever he had at hand for whatever purpose he intended. I don't so much think of Rick as the MacGuyver of the Planetarium, but rather of MacGuyver as the Rick Pirko of television.

"To me, Rick will always be bouncing around the hallways at Ward Beecher in his favorite sweater with at least one smoldering soldering iron on his work table and always thinking about the next major prank to pull. From what I understand, Rick was the brains behind every major prank pulled in Ward Beecher in the last 30 years. He was definitely the instigator of the major pranks while I was a student at YSU, everything from Brower Beach to the functioning (yes, you read correctly) telephone pole in Gregg Sturrus' office.

"Around the fall of 1999, YSU relocated a tasteful stone sign with the University seal on it, which had been at the corner of Lincoln and Wick, and replaced it with a garish electronic lighted sign with a Coke advertisement on it. Rick, of course, would not take this lightly and began to switch off the sign on his way out of work every night. This lasted for a short time, with the sign being turned on each morning. Eventually, someone put a pad lock on the sign to lock the switch in the 'on' position. At this point, Rick taught me how to pick locks using tools made from a portion of a bandsaw blade and an allen wrench. Each night, one of us would pick the pad lock open, turn the switch to the 'off' position, and lock it there. Eventually, we stopped turning the sign off.

"One evening, Kate and I were working with Rick in the shop and we asked Rick what would happen if we placed a polarized capacitor into a circuit backwards. “Oh, hang on, I have one here” was Rick's response. So, he plugged the capacitor into a power source and excused himself to hold the circuit breaker closed, which should have been our first clue that something was going to happen. A few seconds after Rick reached the breaker box, the capacitor exploded and sounded like gunfire. A few minutes after that, a YSU police officer showed up and asked us if we heard anything. 'Nope, we haven't heard anything here.' With Rick, there was never a dull moment. Work was important, but enjoying work and having fun while working were even more important to Rick. I think the most important lesson that I learned from Rick was learned just by watching him go about his daily business. His position at the Planetarium was a perfect fit for him, anyone could see that he genuinely enjoyed what he did. Recently, I have been thinking about the impact that my years spent working closely with Rick have had on my development as a person. Rick found his place and was happy, and taught us all something by living his life according to his own rules."
ed. Tim returned to campus the following June and observed: "I was on campus a few weeks back. The door to the planetarium office was open, but I didn't want to go in. :(     "