Lasting Memories
Philip W Arcuni
Oct. 9, 1958-Nov. 23, 2014
Menlo Park, California
Philip W. Arcuni died of a sudden cardiac arrest on Sunday, November 23, 2014, while bicycling up Old La Honda Road with his niece, Alix Wicker, on his way to the ocean.
Phil was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1958, the son of a Naval officer, and the family moved frequently around the country, living in Texas; Monterey, California; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Key West, Florida; Doylestown, Pennsylvania; and Anapolis, Maryland.
Higher education took him to New York, Illinois, Colorado and Indiana before he settled in California in 1990.
He graduated from Central Bucks East HS in 1976 as valedictorian, and from Colgate University in 1980 in physics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1986. His dissertation, "Autoionization of the (2s2p)¹p, (2p²)¹D, and the (2s²)¹s states of helium after excitation by fast, multiply charged ions," involved hitting helium with lasers. Dr. Hugo Fano chaired his dissertation committee.
He held post-doctoral research posts at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, working for Dr. Alan Gallagher and later at the University of Notre Dame working for Dr. Stephen Lundeen.
He was an Associate Professor of Physics at Occidental College in Los Angeles from 1990-1997 where he led a multi-year effort to create the Early-Childhood Development Center to allow faculty and staff to manage work and family.
He joined Intevac Corporation in Santa Clara in 1997. He lead the systems engineering efforts for every product now in production at Intevac Photonics including the Sagem module, the LIVAR camera used by Northrop Grumman, the Apache Camera, and the digital night-vision goggle.
He took Intevac EBAPS technology and developed the image processing algorithms and systems requirements to achieve breakthrough night vision performance. He was greatly respected by colleagues and customers alike.
Phil was a swimmer in high school and walked onto his college swim team. He returned to the pool when he moved to the swimming mecca that is Northern California. Swimming with his teammates at Menlo Masters was one of his great joys, and for many years you could find him tossing himself into Burgess Pool at 5:45 am and trying to lead his lane, despite the fact that his lane mates got younger and younger.
He participated with his teammates in the Trans-Tahoe Relay and competed nationally as a Masters swimmer, setting several top-10 records in the backstroke and 200 butterfly.
He loved bicycling, and had toured across Europe and the Rocky Mountains as a young man. He was a lifelong environmentalist and donated frequently to environmental causes.
He referred to himself as a "radical materialist," and believed firmly in the power of science to improve the world. He had read every good science fiction story ever written and many bad ones as well. He loved computer games, and played "Hack" "Myst," "Civilization," and more over decades. While he played "World of Warcraft," he always asserted that "Rogue" was the better game.
He is survived by Carin Pacifico, his wife of 30 years; his children, Cara and Philip; his parents, Phil and Lois Arcuni of The Cedars in Chapel Hill, NC; his sister and brother-in-law Cheryl and Kent Wicker of Durham, NC; his niece and nephew, Alix and Jared Wicker; and ?Arcunis by Choice? Dr. Wannasiri Lapcharoensap of Burlingame and Niels Davidsen of Ringkobing, Denmark.
In lieu of flowers, Phil would have asked that you recycle, use canvas bags, ride your bicycle, buy an electric car, and donate to the environmental organization of your choice. He gave to them all and so was inundated with calls at dinner time: Sierra Club, ForestsForever, CALPIRG, California League of Conservation Voters, and so on.
He also believed in funding medical research, so you might donate to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the Stanford/VA Alzheimer's Research Center in his name. Phil gave blood monthly at Stanford Hospital and would encourage you to help them too.
Habitual routine is struck for all possible elements for the human. The rightly managed things have been done for the use of the college-paper review for all authentic items for the better life of the people.
Carol, I want to thank you for this memory of Phil. It is a story I had never heard before. He usually told stories at his own expense (or mine.) He loved Bunch House, I can't believe you actually kept him fed, as much as he swam and in that climate. I would really love to hear other stories from Colgate days, so please encourage old friends to post them! To his students from OXY: he loved passing on the things he had learned, both how to be a good scientist and how to be a good man. He would be so proud to know you remember. Please encourage other OXY people to recall things for me. I have to remember him to his grandchildren someday.
I have a funny remembrance of Phil Arcuni from when we were students at Colgate University. We both lived at Ralph Bunch House, a group student residence of about twenty people. I took a semester off to be the cook at Bunch House. Most of the residents were omnivores, but a few of us, like Phil and myself, were vegetarians. I had never cooked for that many people before and was a little overwhelmed at the beginning. One day, I expected delivery of a few cuts of meat. When I got to work, I found, instead, on the counter, an entire half of a pig. I was standing there, looking at it, in a mild state of shock, when, taking one of his frequent brief study breaks, Phil walked into the kitchen. He looked at me, in his funny quizzical way, and gently said: "What were you thinking?" I did not know what to say...or do! Phil walked over to the knife drawer, pulled out a cleaver, and said:"OK, I think we use one of these." He proceeded to help me figure out, roughly, what the cuts should look like...ribs, chops, etc...and, together, we slowly cut it all up. I so appreciated this help from a dedicated vegetarian! Even now, 37 years later, it brings tears to my eyes. He certainly saw the humor, but also took the time to help solve the problem! He seemed to find it interesting that I would take on a job like that and, later, would stop by on his way to, or from the pool, to see how things were going. Now, though the context is so sad, it is wonderful to read about his continued concern for others and his interesting accomplishments.
I was a student of Dr. Arcuni at Occidental college. Someone said to me once that there were would be seven people that would make a big impact in your life and change it for the better. I consider Dr. Arcuni one of those seven. I am saddened I could not tell him in person. My deepest sorrow to his family's loss.
Dr. Arcuni was my college counselor at Oxy. I majored in Physics as well. Little did I know that he lived near me in the Bay Area. His advice had a profound impact in my college life. I am sorry to hear of his passing. My condolences to his family.
I never met Phil in person but only knew him through the United States Masters Swimming discussion forums. Just from his spirited and fascinating contributions here, I could tell he was a genuinely wonderful, thoughtful, and super smart guy. As another older swimmer on a team of youngsters, I was always trying to figure out ways to age-handicap my times in such a way as to lay claim to victory even when the youngsters technically swam faster than me. I discovered something called the Finnish formula, and Phil soon created a software app where you could enter your age and current time for the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles--then list what a "comparable" time would be at every other age from 18 to 104. I can't tell you how much pleasure Phil's app gave me--how many hot shot youngsters I was able to convince that I had, according to the Finnish formula, beaten them badly! Phil's app was posted on the web for years but recently I noticed it was no longer there any more. Discovering today that he passed away is heart-breaking, and I didn't even meet him in person. My condolences to all his friends and loved ones for a loss of a great man.
Phil and I were high school friends we swam together for years on the Central Bucks team although I was not a great a swimmer as Phil he was always a great friend I was very sorry we lost contact after high school I am glad to hear he led a fulfilling life all but way to short. RIP Phil
I am so saddened to hear of Phil?s death. I vividly remember him and meeting you Carin when he was one of my husband Gordon Berry?s graduate students at U of C. He had such an interesting alert inquiring mind?and it is so clear from the lovely tribute on the website that continued to be an essential quality of his. I have a special sympathy for you all; my father died at 56 when I was in my early 20?s; I still miss him so much and I am still so grateful for the way he made the world home for me and my siblings. However, I treasure a conversation some years ago with our second son Sebastien (also a great Civilisation, D&D player) some years ago when I was filled with sorrow that my sons had never known my father, their grandfather. He told me, Don?t be silly, of course we know what kind of amazing person he was because he is so much a part of who you are. I do hope and trust that is true for Cara and Philip. I also have granddaughters who suddenly lost their beautiful mother when she died suddenly and I see that all of this is relative. It is better to have a clean death of a good person than a loss to senseless violence. Still nothing makes it easy. I hold you in my heart and wish you well.