Byron Dieterle (1937-2026)
July 1, 2026
Byron Dieterle (1937-2026) passed away from heart complications on March 9th, 2026 while doing what he loved: riding his bike. His death came at the end of a decades-long progression of heart disease that weakened his body but not his wit or passions.
Byron was born in Indianapolis in 1937, then moved around the country as an army brat. His love of cycling started on his morning paper route in Riverside, CA, where he encountered orange groves, vicious animals, and, on one occasion, the glow of a distant nuclear test.
In 1955 he began his career as a physicist, taking bachelor’s (1960) and doctorate (1967) degrees from UC Berkeley, and post-doc at Stanford, during the apogee of post-war physics. He later worked on neutrino capture projects in France and Japan, and was a life-long teacher at University of New Mexico and Union College. Byron loved New Mexico, and spoke highly of his students and colleagues at UNM.
He is survived by his wife Melissa Behr, his three sons Francis, Charles, and Paul, and grandson Louis Dieterle.
There is a scheduled remembrance for July 13, 2026.
