Dennis Ward Ricker, age 89, passed away in his sleep June 21st, 2026, in the Village at Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania.
He was born January 4th, 1939, in East Orange, New Jersey, to Benjamin “Frank” Franklin Ricker and Marie Anne Ricker nee Macolino.
Dennis earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Union College in 1961, followed by a masters in Electrical Engineering at Penn State in 1963, before finally earning a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University in 1969. He was truly brilliant.
Dennis was a clever man inventing advanced sonar signal processing systems such as the target tracking sonar with false target detector and the log-exponential AGC circuit. He wrote over 40 articles, held a number of patents, and he also published a book titled “Echo Signaling Processing” which has gone on to be a foundational text book in the fields of radar and active sonar engineering. He worked at the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State for 33 years with the rank of senior scientist and Professor Emeritus of Acoustics before retiring in 2002. His first job, however, was at a fix-it shop repairing televisions and toasters in the sixth grade. In his leisure time he enjoyed traveling the world with his wife who he loved infinitely. He was an avid folk musician and enjoyed playing banjo and mandolin every chance he got, he was in a number of bands over the years, such as the Country Ramblers and Bob Doyle and the Allegheny String Band, in which he played gigs far and wide. He was truly a remarkable fellow who could tell you a “bawdy” limerick, repair a car from nothing, fly planes, identify explosives based on smell and cars by ear, he was a self taught chemist with an affection for fireworks, and he was known for his wonderful parties, of which he threw many. He was truly loved.
He is survived by his loving wife, Mary Elizabeth Durham Ricker; his two sons, Thomas A. Ricker (Delia Heffernan) of Kansas City, Missouri and Andrew Ricker (Katherine Bell Ricker) of State College, Pennsylvania; his grandchildren Benjamin, Gage, and Silas Ricker of State College, Pennsylvania; and his caring brother Alan Ricker of Schenectady, New York. They all miss him dearly.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death, by his younger brother Bryant Ricker and countless friends.
A memorial service and celebration for friends and family will be held at the Linden Hall School house sometime in the Fall.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Village at Penn State’s Resident Annual Fund and the Linden Hall Village Association.