Arthur W. Moore's Obituary
A man of love, adventure, and integrity.
The third of five children born to George and Winifred Moore, Arthur W. Moore (Art) entered the world on July 22, 1937 in Grand Falls-Winsor, Newfoundland. Art, his two older brothers (Fred and Bob) and two younger sisters (Dorothy and Grace) spent their childhood in a modest home in Grand Falls-Winsor, a small town in the north central portion of the island Newfoundland. Newfoundland only officially became the easternmost Province of Canada when Art was twelve.
An accelerated primary and secondary education led to his early admission to Memorial University, in St. John’s, Newfoundland at the young age of 16. His aptitude and love for science, mathematics, and research steered him to M.I.T. in Boston, MA, where he obtained his chemical engineering degree. An engineering internship at a chemical company in Kingston, Ontario, followed, and his well spent time in academia eventually yielded a Ph.D. in science/chemical engineering from Imperial College in London, England. During the tail end of this extensive education, his life work with graphite and boron nitride was born.
His year in Kingston also bore his greatest treasure. Lacking a date for the company Christmas party, colleagues set him up with a recently employed lab technician. Edina, a refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, and living with an aunt and uncle in Kingston since her escape, accepted the blind date. The connection was an immediate success and the two embarked on a fast-tracked romance that included trips to Ottawa, Newfoundland and Switzerland. Travel was an instant passion for the couple. Art and Edina married on September 3, 1960 in Lugano, Switzerland, less than a year into their courtship. Christmas remained Art and Edina’s beloved Holiday, and White Christmas, their song.
The start to family life took place during a brief but eventful few years in Europe. While in England the young couple welcomed the birth of their first child, Thomas, born in November, 1962. A second son, Robert, came almost exactly a year later, just as Art began his career in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Robert, however, was born in Switzerland, during a transitory few months that included Edina caring for her ailing mother and Art looking for suitable accommodations for his growing family. A third child, daughter Christina, arrived as a home birth in June of 1966, with the entire family now in Eindhoven. Though enjoying these years in Europe, the couple’s desire was always to return to North America. And so it was that Art accepted an excellent employment opportunity to do research in his field at Union Carbide in Cleveland, Ohio. It was to become their home city for the rest of his life. A fourth child, and second daughter, completed the family a few years later. Andrea was born in June of 1970, and gave the family the unusual distinction of having every member born in a different country and all their birthdays being perfect squares 1,4,9 and 25.
Art’s career, which began at Phillips while in Eindhoven, spanned over 40 years, mostly at Union Carbide. His vocation of significant research, included presentations, and over 50 patents and publications, covering his work with pyrolytic graphite and boron nitride. He was also a frequent judge at school science fairs and often thrilled elementary school classes with science “tricks”, shattering a banana frozen in liquid nitrogen, a typical favorite.
Art enjoyed a variety of interests. Travel, photography, puzzles, games, word plays and puns, endurance pursuits, and time outdoors (mostly to walk or to shovel snow), among others. Family vacations were plentiful and included trips all over the US, Canada and Europe, with journeys back to Newfoundland a family favorite. Later in life, vacations with Edina (and other family as available) were also made to Alaska, Thailand, Myanmar, Peru, Panama, much more of Europe, and much more of Canada. These trips often included favorite travel companion, Art’s sister Dorothy, a well-travelled Moore herself. They also enjoyed Caribbean, Mediterranean, and European River cruises, and relished several extended family gatherings, Canadian family reunions, and Hungarian family reunions. Boxes of slides and many dozen photo albums, created by Art, document these trips and, indeed, his and his family’s entire life.
His proficiency in solving puzzles of all kinds was renowned in family and friend circles. He solved Rubik’s cube without instruction assistance and, true to his meticulous documenting nature, produced a detailed account, complete with diagrams and step by step solution procedures. Jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles regularly took up space on tables throughout the house. Assembling jigsaw puzzles with his sons, and other family members, sometime while also enjoying a peaty single malt Scotch, was a frequent happening during Holiday weekends. Art’s solo masterpiece was a 12,500 piece of Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany. His office remains littered with hand puzzles of all kinds and continue to be a source of pleasure for generations of family members.
Art loved to play games of all kinds! Board games including Scrabble, Monopoly, Leaky Pipes, Clue, Careers, Lie Cheat and Steal (a family favorite), Sequence, etc. took up an entire closet. Card games including Hearts, Rook, and Newfoundland family favorite 120’s were played year round. Art and Edina also played in various Bridge leagues for many years. He was also in bowling leagues, threw darts, and even played badminton while in University. Art prized inventing variations of sporting and skill games. Basement hockey, flinging potatoes, basketball trick shots, and a plethora of Frisbee related games were the norm throughout his life. The research scientist would often stand in goal (the open garage door) with a straw broom and defend Frisbee tossed scoring attempts from his children. He spawned generations of game loving family and friends, and was the inspiration for a gaming league started by his offspring and their friends. Several themed gaming nights a year, often in Art and Edina’s home, were enjoyed by as many as forty members. In fact, his certificate as the original member of the Gaming Group’s Hall of Fame is proudly displayed amongst his many diplomas, patent plaques, engineering licenses, commemorations, and Memorial University Varsity Badminton champion certificate in his home office.
Perhaps the engineer in him or his sense of humor, Art was always ready to twist a word, take a phrase literally when it would be found funny, or his favorite, twisting Hungarian and English words together. He had always said that he would write a book on Hungarian/English puns called “disz Magyar…and dat Magyar”. Everyone who knew Art knew at least one or two of these gems like “let’s get the “so (the Hungarian word for salt, pronounced “show”) on the road” when the salters hadn’t arrived yet.
Art’s endurance quests are legendary. His long bike rides, walks, and drives were already well established before he realized his passion for ultra-running. At the age of 40 he ran his first 10K. He subsequently completed 895 official races, including a mind boggling 607 marathon or greater distance races. These comprised numerous 50 to 100 mile or greater runs, including 20 of his favorite Laurel Highland events, one of which apparently was not long enough. He turned around and ambled back to the start of the 70 mile run, completing maybe the only 140-mile version of this annual race. Three times he ran/walked the 258 miles between Cleveland and Cincinnati, each time joining only three or four others in this Ohio homeless shelter charity fund raiser. He is credited with established an ultra running event in Cleveland, which is now called the Art Moore FA50 in his honor. His endurance “magnum opus” included a 2,100 mile bicycle ride from chosen home Cleveland to birth home Grand Falls Winsor. He took three days off during the ride so that he could fly North from Montreal to run a 52 mile Midnight Sun race beyond the Arctic Circle. Upon his return to Montreal he hopped back on his bike and, joined by his nephew, completed the ride to Newfoundland. He combined two of his passions, travel and running, and ran a marathon or greater in all 50 states, all10 Canadian provinces, all three Canadian territories, and several other countries. Edina and other family and extended family members often accompanied him on the race related trips, and crewed for him on many occasions. Some, including his children, grandkids, and son-in-law, joined him at times, and he has inspired many family members, their friends, and his friends to share his joy of running.
He was a man of principles, and fairness, and lead a decent life. The lessons in civility and morality, learned as a child, were imparted to his children, and were evident to all who knew him. Many who met him in one or more of his walks of life, commented on his integrity. He was the “fairest of all judges, and the greatest divider of all things”.
Art’s entire extended family and all his friends are too numerous to list. Suffice it to say, he was loved, liked, respected, and admired by many. He had many close friends from his days in academia, his work places, neighbors, and running and hiking clubs, to name a few.
He remained in continuous contact with his brothers and sisters who visited or were visited often, despite the many hour distance between them. The relatives remaining in Newfoundland, included brother Fred and wife Marie; nieces Winnie, Betty, Anne; nephews Jim and Pete; numerous cousins, and all their families. Montreal was home to brother Bob, his wife Ute and nephews Daniel and Philip, as well and sisters Dorothy and Grace. Other Canadian relatives were scattered across Canada. All of these wonderful people always rolled out the red carpet for Art and his family on frequent visits, providing countless great memories.
Edina’s sister Eugenia and her two children moved from Europe to Cleveland shortly after the Moore family’s arrival in the States. Art was a sort of surrogate father to nephew Andrew and niece Gioconda who affectionately called him “daddy” throughout most of their lives. The similarly aged cousins of Thom, Rob, Christi and Andrea were often present at family events.
Grandkids Matthew, Katherine, Emily, and Brendan (Rob and wife Heather); Jacob and Samuel (Christi and husband Mark); Margaret, Nathan, and Elizabeth (Andrea and husband Jason) adored their beloved “Papacs”. He invented games and nicknames for them, attended their graduations, many sporting, music, and club events, and kept them in puns and family stories. A pet activity for the grandkids was to go through the many family photo albums. They were ever present at holidays and family vacations. Andy’s children Addy and Nena, and Gioconda and husband Dennis’ children Rachel, Michael, and Daniel were also often included in family events.
The loves of his life were his wife of 57 years Edina, and their children. Together, Art and Edina provided the family a loving home and great life, bursting with adventure, opportunity, laughs, and comfort. Art was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, mentor, colleague and friend.
A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, September 24, 2017, 1:00 PM at Rocky River Nature Center, 24000 Valley Parkway, North Olmsted, 44070.
Art loved the Cleveland Metro parks and spent innumerable hours in them. He also received excellent care from Hospice of the Western Reserve in the last weeks of his life. The family requests, in lieu of flowers, friends and family consider making a donation in his memory to either of these organizations.
Metro parks donation (this will contribute to a permanent endowment to Cleveland Metro parks in his name) Scenic Park Trailhead – information kiosk located at Scenic Park Picnic Area (next to Scenic Park Marina) off Valley Parkway in Lakewood. Trailhead serves as the entrance of the Scenic Park Loop Trail and provides picnic area and marina visitors with information related to Rocky River Reservation and Cleveland Metroparks. Memorial recognition would consist of a bronze plaque placed on a boulder near the trailhead.
To contribute to this please follow these instructions given to us by the Metro Parks. Any contribution already given either in check to [email protected] or to the trails fund has been allocated to this fund.
Checks should be payable to the ‘Emerald Necklace Endowment Fund’ and sent to Cleveland Metroparks, Development, 4101 Fulton Parkway, Cleveland 44144. Credit card donations should be made directly through The Cleveland Foundation’s website https://www.clevelandfoundation.org/give-now/?existing_select=cleveland-metroparks-emerald-necklace-endowment-fund-exfund. There is an option for memorial tributes on The Foundation’s online gift form.
Hospice donation
http://www.hospicewr.org/patients-and-caregivers/giving-back/Pages/Donate-Now.aspx
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