Andrew “Andy” Richard Neureuther, 84, died peacefully on September 9, 2025.
He was born in Decatur, IL in 1941, the second of four children born to Andrew
Wesley Neureuther and Mary Tuschhoff Neureuther. Andy came from a long line
of Methodist preachers and mechanical engineers. At age 13, Andy used his Boy
Scout first aid training to save the life of a young girl who thrust her arm through
a glass window, piercing her artery. Andy was able to calm her and apply pressure
to stop the flow of blood. He continued to do so all the way to the hospital where
a nurse was able to convince him to let go.
Raised in Decatur, Andy graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1959 and
attended the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana from 1959 to 1966,
earning the degrees of BA, MS, and PhD in Electrical Engineering. Andy joined the
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) faculty at the University of
California at Berkeley in 1966. He changed his focus from electromagnetics to
optical lithography modeling while doing research at IBM in 1972. Andy retired
after 41 years of teaching at UC in 2007 but remained active as a mentor for UC
graduate students.
Andy is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Cooperative Fellowship and is
a Fellow of IEEE. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996
for his contribution in the field of computer-aided modeling of semiconductor
processing. He received the Fritz Zernike Award for Microlithography in 2011, the
Aristotle Teaching Award from SRC in 2012 and the SPIE Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2015. Andy was very fortunate to have been honored by a recent
gathering of 30 of his EECS graduates which he referred to as his “Last Hurrah”
and an EECS department gathering to celebrate his career in optical lithography
and semiconductor technology. Andy will also be remembered for his many years
as a UC Monk singer, tuba player and cast member of the UC holiday plays.
Andy married Beverly “Bev” Hufford in 1963. They had two daughters. He married
Cynthia “Cindy” Collins in 1979 and had two more daughters. In 2014, after
residing 35 years in Berkeley, Andy and Cindy moved to Rossmoor in Walnut
Creek, CA. He and Cindy enjoyed traveling and spending winters in Briny Breezes,
FL where he happily pursued his love of singing, dancing, and photography.
Andy is survived and adored by his wife Cindy, his four daughters and their
spouses; Natalie and Eric Page, Georgia Neureuther, Jenny and Isaac Hall, and
Samantha and Tyler Stradleigh. Andy is the proud Papa of grandchildren Kevin
and Tom Page, Dylan and Sarah Weitz, and Edwin and Patrick Stradleigh. He is
also adored by his three sisters Cynthia Beckett, Marjorie Cline and Janet Burkhart
and their families.
Private interment at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, CA.
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