Richard F. Cimera

Richard Francis Cimera, 89 of Montville and Ocean Beach, New Jersey passed away on March 25, 2024 after a brief illness.
Richard was a soft spoken, kind, intelligent, selfless, faithful loving person who would do anything for his wife, Joyce, and family.  
He excelled in all aspects of life including his professional career as a mechanical engineer.
He was an internationally recognized expert in the field of gyroscopes. He designed and developed many of the gyroscopes used in Desert Storm, Iraq War, secret spy satellites, military, commercial and scientific satellites, Space Shuttle, fighter aircraft, B-1B and B-2 bomber aircraft, tanks, cruise missiles and Trident missiles. His gyroscopes guided the Voyager I and II satellites that have left our solar system, having traveled over 15 billion miles.  Many of his gyroscopes have operated continuously for over 45 years.
Richard worked on a rate gyro package intended to guide the LEM vehicle to and from the moon.   At a management dinner meeting, he sat next to Astronaut Jim Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13 who used Richard's rate gyro package to safely return to earth when the Apollo 13 guidance system was destroyed. He asked Commander Lovell if he was ever worried about returning home and he said, "every second of every minute of every hour".  As a result, Richard's name is on the moon.
Prior to the launch of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed the first man on the moon, Richard’s personal phone number was given to President Nixon in case there was a problem during the mission.
Richard was acknowledged for his dedication to the field. His accolades include; the recipient of the 1973 Outstanding Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. This was given for his patent on the "Two Axis Gyro ''. He was also the recipient of "The Engineer of the Year '' award for Kearfott in 1982.
Richard was born on April 25, 1934 at home in Clifton, NJ.  As a  young boy he worked delivering 100 newspapers six days a week for $2.  This is how he met his wife, Joyce. 
While a junior and senior in high school, he worked evenings from 6 to 10pm and still graduated in the top 10% of his high school class. While at Clifton high school his guidance counselor asked him what he was going to do as a career. He replied he was going to become an engineer and attend Stevens Institute of Technology. She doubted he’d be able to get in. Always focused and determined, he attended Stevens and graduated 5th in his class-with honors.  He made the Dean's List every semester. While at Stevens, he was inducted into four honor societies: Tau Beta Pi (National Engineering Honor Society), Gear and Triangle (Activities Honor Society), Khoda (Senior Honor Society) and Phi Delta Epsilon (National Journalism Honor Society). He was Vice-President of the Theta Xi Fraternity. He received four degrees: Degree of Engineering, Master of Science in Industrial Management Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Newark College of Engineering and Professional Degree of Mechanical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology (Equivalent to a PhD).
He excelled not only in his professional life, but in his personal life as well. Nothing was more important to Richard than his family. He will be remembered as the proud poppa who brought his camera to every family gathering, sporting event, and award ceremony.
Richard played semi-pro baseball and was a baseball Little League manager coaching his son's games for over 10 years. His hobbies included photography, billiards, stamp and coin collecting, attending Yankee games with his grandson, and collecting sports art. He also enjoyed traveling with his wife to many states and countries.
He lived in Fairfield for 33 years, in North Caldwell for 25 years and Montville, NJ for seven. He previously enjoyed using his sailboat at Big Bass Lake in the Poconos where he had a house. He also had a summer home in Ocean Beach, NJ. There he enjoyed piloting his boat in Barnegat Bay.
He and Joyce were founding parishioners at St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Fairfield, New Jersey for over 60 years. Both were involved in many aspects of the church including attending bible studies. Richard was a man of great faith and read the bible every day and lived by its principles.
Surviving are Joyce, his wife of 67 years, two children; Renee McFadden and Keith Cimera, six grandchildren; Brandon, Ryan, Meagan and her husband Derek, Dana and her fiancée Robert, Brian and his fiancé AlexaRae, Anita, two great grandchildren, Trey and Kaia, daughter-in-law, Joyce, sister-in-laws, Patricia Sabbak and Jacqueline Swiatek and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by son, Glenn, sister, Virginia Kostic, and brother, Raymond Cimera.
A mass for Richard F. Cimera, will be offered Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 11am at St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Fairfield. Friends will be received at Ippolito-Stellato Funeral Home, 7 Two Bridges Road, Fairfield Tuesday, April 2, 2024 2-4 and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Thomas More Church, 12 Hollywood Avenue, Fairfield NJ 07004 or St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis TN 38105.
Richard Cimera, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, executive, professional engineer, inventor, and scholar will be deeply missed.