ForeverMissed
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Stan in front of The Periodic Table, his constant source of inspiration, 2005

Stan passed away peacefully at home on October 17, a month short of his 90th birthday.  His wife Rosa, children Ben, Harvey, Dale, Robin, Steven, Angela, Vicki, and grandchildren Natasha, Noah, Sylvie, Pablo, Olivia, Norah,  and brother Herb grieve the loss to the world of our deeply loved husband, father, grandfather, brother and outstanding contributor to humanity. His courage and leadership from the early days of the labor, civil rights and peace movements, continued in his lifelong dedication to a just society for all.

Universally credited with the development of the field of amorphous semiconductors, Stan was a brilliant, self-educated physicist and inventor,  who with Rosa and his late wife Iris, lived his beliefs daily by using science and technology to create a more beautiful and better world. His many inventions including thin film solar panels, the nickel metal hydride battery which enabled hybrid vehicles, and phase change memory devices are examples of his pioneering contributions to the field of sustainable energy and innovative information technology. 

Private burial will be at the Workmen’s Circle Cemetery in Akron, Ohio on Sunday, October 21.

Donations in Stan’s honor can be made to: 

ACLU of Michigan
Attention: Paul Jeden
2966 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201 

(313) 578-6813
pjeden@aclumich.org

 or

The Ovshinsky Student Fund 
c/o Darlene Logan, Director of Development 
The American Physical Society 
1 Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740

https://www.aps.org/memb-sec/donation/DonationFunds.cfm
(Ovshinsky Student Fund is listed with Special Projects)



We invite you to contribute stories, memories and photos of Stan to this site.

Tributes

Leave a tribute
Steven Dibner
October 18, 2023
October 18, 2023
Not a day goes by without my thinking about my amazing parents. When my Standad was the age I am now (69), all I needed to do was ask one good question to get him going, thinking and talking, highlighting good ideas and possibilities, referencing history and literature and cosmology, always tying things together with a sense of the nobility of a life committed to helping create a better world in whatever way is possible. To honor Standad I try to follow the dictum he stressed to Rosa: "Squeeze Life!"  October 17th is now past but the candle is still burning...
Benny Reichman
November 28, 2022
November 28, 2022
Stan was an inspiration to me and many other friends at ECD. I will always cherish these old good days working at ECD and the special warm atmosphere created by Stan and Iris.
John Tyler
November 28, 2022
November 28, 2022
Stan was a mentor to me over the 20 odd years that I worked at ECD. After living 80 odd years I realize what a gift that was. I was lucky to gain many skills both with technology but more importantly with how to interact and deal with people. Those were some of the best years of my life. I will always be very grateful to both he and Iris.
Srinivasan Venkatesan
November 26, 2022
November 26, 2022
Stan: we miss your intelligence and encouragement to new ideas. I have had several opportunities to share my ideas with you and you saw the importance of the information and encouraged me. Thanks Stan
ray wite
November 26, 2022
November 26, 2022
I recently spent time with my older brother and in conversation we talked about Stan and our memories we recalled. I was so pleased to hear that Rick had spent time with Stan towards the end just sitting together looking out at his beautiful pond. I am always thankful of the impact Stan had on us. If only he could have been here longer.
Subhash Dhar
November 25, 2022
November 25, 2022
It would have been wonderful to spend Stan’s 100th birthday with him and friends, but I am satisfied with the fact that I had an opportunity to celebrate many occasions over the years and work with him very closely including some memorable travels with him and Iris.
Steven Dibner
November 24, 2022
November 24, 2022
It was wonderful to spend what would have been the 100th birthday of my Standad with my sister Robin and my son Pablo Dibner in San Diego at the home of Rosa Ovshinsky, his widow. It felt great that this year it coincided with Thanksgiving Day! We had a family zoom including some of my siblings, one niece, one cousin, and Stan's "baby brother" Herb Ovshinsky who worked side by side with Stan and is now a lively 94 years old! Earlier in the day we zoomed to share memories and stories with some of Stan's closest associates from ECD including Herb Ovshinsky, Rosa Ovshinsky, Genie Mytilineou, Guy Wicker, Ben Chao, Dennis Corrigan, and great friends Harley Shaiken and Beatriz Manz. Ben Ovshinsky, Pam Ovshinsky, Robin and I also participated, and we were joined by his biographers Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett. Stan's life was inspirational to so many and his inventions made the world a more beautiful and sustainable place. For his sake we must continue to "hold the fort"! He will never be forgotten.
Eden Spring
October 17, 2022
October 17, 2022
Lovely tributes today.. always sharing your story Stan! Love to the family as always!
Subhash Dhar
October 17, 2022
October 17, 2022
Stan would have been very proud and happy to see how solar energy and electric vehicles are in mass production and thriving as a business worldwide, something he worked for and developed technologies all his life.
He not only contributed to the science and technology, but also raised a generation of technologists, business leaders and humanitarians.
We miss you Stan.
fabio albano
October 17, 2022
October 17, 2022
10 years later and the battery industry is still solving the same issues we were discussing with Stan in 2012.. he was a pioneer beyond comprehension and heavily missed…
Srinivasan Venkatesan
October 18, 2021
October 18, 2021
Stan’s contributions to science still needs to be more widely recognized. Great man with a great vision far ahead of his times
Eden Spring
October 18, 2021
October 18, 2021
Thoughts of love and blessings as always! ♥️
fabio albano
October 18, 2021
October 18, 2021
In this difficult time where the world has experienced a pandemic and forgotten how humans should interact I often look at your examples of kindness for inspiration. Thank you 
Eden Spring
October 18, 2020
October 18, 2020
As always, my love to Stan's family in remembering his life. As always, my gratitude for his fellow scientists, innovators, and all who knew of the work he did to contribute to the ever evolving technology that Stan himself built, contributed to and created. Much love. Forever missed. From a friend, who holds Stan dearly in her heart, always.
Benny Reichman
October 18, 2020
October 18, 2020
I missed these old good days at ECD with the special and unique atmosphere created by Stan and Iris. It felt like a big family. Stan encouraged us to be creative and think outside the box and it resulted in wonderful inventions which created new industries such as the nickel metal hydride battery of which I was part of. I always will cherish this work with Stan.
Srinivasan Venkatesan
October 17, 2020
October 17, 2020
My time spent at ECD and with Stan as the mentor will always remain etched in my memory. Stan you will be forever missed
Subhash Dhar
October 17, 2020
October 17, 2020
Stan and his most amazing partner in life & business Iris were and continue to be a guiding light in my professional and personal life.
I miss both of them.
Eden Spring
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
Thoughts of Stan! Blessings to his family now and always!
fabio albano
October 17, 2019
October 17, 2019
I have started a new venture in the metal air battery field and Stan’s vision and insight on what problems to solve first and what to develop next is greatly missed.. I hope somehow to find inspiration in the memory.. blessings
Subhash Dhar
October 17, 2019
October 17, 2019
Stan would have been proud to see the emerging and growing electrification of vehicles on a global scene. On Saturday Feb 9, 1982 he told me that one day batteries (Ni-MH) will run cars instead of petroleum fuel; that happened while he was alive, but now with advances in battery technology (Li-Ion) that precast and prediction is more true than ever before. So much so that it has grabbed the attention of the Nobel Committee who recently awarded Nobel prize to the pioneering researchers of Li-Ion chemistry. A great tribute to the scientific community who have contributed relentlessly to the realisation of electric vehicles; Stan was an early pioneers in this field.
This past year, I have missed him mre than ever because I started a new battery company; he would have been very proud. I will honor him by hangi his portrait in the main lobbies of the two facilities of this nee company American Battery Solutions Inc located in MI & OH. OH is where Stan spent his early life and MI were he spent his entire creative career.
Eden Spring
October 18, 2018
October 18, 2018
With love and admiration for Stan, remembering him now and always!
Subhash Dhar
October 18, 2018
October 18, 2018
He was and continues to be a great inspiration in my personal and professional life. He was a true friend and a teacher. He will be missed forever...
Steven Dibner
October 17, 2018
October 17, 2018
I lit a candle today for my Standad. But absolutely every day, I feel his inspiration, his fighting spirit, his belief in goodness, in beauty, in art. I hear his voice in my mind, and I feel his support and love. How privileged I feel to have grown up as his son!
Patty THOMAS
October 17, 2018
October 17, 2018
As a young girl growing up on Forrer Street, next door to the Ovshinsky family, I never knew Stan as a genius. He was just the nice man next door. I knew he was a great friend to my father and I knew that my father spent time playing chess and talking with Stan about things adults talk about. When my father died of cancer at the age of 38, my life changed and I lost more than I realized or was able to talk about at the time. I never really understood why Stan and his oldest son, Ben had moved out of the house next door around that time. When my mother was in her late 80's, we were riding in the car together and heard the report of Stan's passing. The flood of memories my mother and I talked about during that car ride was one of the few times we talked about the many losses we had endured when my dad died. I am grateful for the happy times the Conway family and Ovshinsky family shared.
Genie Mytilineou
October 17, 2018
October 17, 2018
Six years have already passed that a brilliant man, Stan Ovshinsky, a fighter until the last minute, has left us. Recently, a biographical book was released to remind us of some of his achievements.
Let remember some of his inventions that make our lives better every day.
The discovery of the Amorphous Silicon Transistor made possible the fabrication of flat screens, the "tubes" that limit the size and weight of TV screens gone and now they could be made “paper thin”. The mobile phones are now in our pockets, and the laptops in our bags.
A rewriteable CD disc, with α chalcogenide alloy film as the active material, you can store music, data and later you are able to erase it and write something else.
Electric cars, hybrids with gasoline or hydrogen, came out on the streets.
I am very lucky to have met him and worked with him.
fabio albano
October 17, 2018
October 17, 2018
Working in batteries and electric cars, there isn’t a day I don’t think of Stan. I can’t believe how fast time is passing. You’ll be forever missed..
Robin Dibner
May 26, 2018
May 26, 2018
Wonderful news - The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, a fabulous biography of Stan written by Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett, was recently published by MIT Press. It is an extensively researched and peer reviewed book, over 10 years in the writing, but also has much about the personal lives of Stan and my mother and their 50 years of love, professional partnership, and dedication to using science and technology to create a better and more beautiful world. Lillian and Peter did two book signing events in Detroit, there will be more coming up in Akron, and hopefully others soon.
Here is the link to the Amazon page for the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Saw-Tomorrow-Inventions/dp/026203753X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527387014&sr=1-1&keywords=the+man+who+saw+tomorrow&dpID=51u32ibo8UL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
Patty THOMAS
May 13, 2018
May 13, 2018
I grew up on the street where Stan and his family lived in the 50's and early 60's. We were next door neighbors and my father, Pat Conway and Stan were great friends. My dad was a mechanical engineer who had graduated from MSU after WWII. When my dad got a job in the auto industry in Detroit, we settled there and enjoyed the close friendship of people on our block. We were a Catholic family and my sibs and I went to the local Catholic school and we were close friends with our next door neighbors who were separated from us by the driveway between our houses. My dad spent a lot of time with Stan and they enjoyed "intellectual" activities like playing chess together. I have the chessboard and chessmen Stan gave my father back in the 50's. Unfortunately, my father was diagnosed with cancer in the late 50's and our happy family life came crashing down. Stan was a wonderfully supportive and caring friend to my father and our family thru the difficult time of my father's illness and passing. I will always remember Stan as someone who was very special to my family.
Eden Spring
October 18, 2017
October 18, 2017
Love always! Think of Stan often! Much respect and regard, Eden
fabio albano
October 17, 2017
October 17, 2017
Your vision and legacy in electric vehicles is still unfolding and more present than ever. Rest In Peace.
Daniel Lubin
October 23, 2016
October 23, 2016
Stan was an inspiration to me and the reason why I have the passion to invent. Stan made the world a better place with his technological ideas. He encouraged people to think creatively. He is greatly missed. I share the story of his vision as often as I can.
Subhash Dhar
October 20, 2016
October 20, 2016
I think of Stan every time I am dealing with tough issues, be it related to technology, science or people...it has always helped and I continue to be inspired by him as if he never left us. I want to take this opportunity to also mention that Iris was a great inspiration to many of us as well. I will light a candle for these two great souls...
Bob Kaplan
October 20, 2016
October 20, 2016
Stan lived life in two arenas: science and social justice. And in the social justice life he and I worked together through the Workmen's Circle. That was important to him and he is always remembered by our organization.
Bob Kaplan
Eden Spring
October 19, 2016
October 19, 2016
I think of Stan often! One of a kind true genuine spirit. Love and blessings to Stan's family!
fabio albano
October 18, 2016
October 18, 2016
The memory of your creativity and strength is an inspiration to me and many others in the energy field. I light a candle and say a prayer for your soul to rest in peace.
Steven Dibner
October 17, 2016
October 17, 2016
Today I symbolically light a huge candle and a dozen long-stemmed red roses and leave a note here as I will leave a stone next time I visit that lovely hillside in Akron, Ohio.

My stepfather Stan Ovshinsky, or Standad to me, was an amazing blaze of energy which brightened and improved our world in so many ways.
Mike Iwakata
October 17, 2016
October 17, 2016
Time really flies. It has been already 4 years since Stan has departed from us.
It is almost like few days ago that I am talking to you discussing new approach to advanced PV device across the table at Institute office.
We all miss you, Stan but you are living in our heart and memory.
Steven Dibner
November 24, 2015
November 24, 2015
Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of my amazing Standad. Concentrating on the values we share, I continue to honor my parents by rededicating myself daily to finding my way to make our world better and more beautiful. SOLIDARITY FOREVER!!!
Eden Spring
November 24, 2015
November 24, 2015
Happy anniversary of the birth of a truly unique, inspiring and amazing human being! And, I wish a very happy thanksgiving to Stan's family!
Eden Spring
October 17, 2015
October 17, 2015
I think of Stan often and wish to honor him and send blessings to his family today! You will never be forgotten Stan! Your legacy lives on with your loved ones, friends, fellow scientists and colleagues. We all miss you!
fabio albano
October 18, 2014
October 18, 2014
I learned so much from you in a short time and you have inspired many of the so-called "impossible" ideas that I wish I could have had more time to learn even more... I revert to memory and I miss you! Rest in peace.
Subhash Dhar
October 18, 2014
October 18, 2014
Today, October 18, 2014 is the 32nd anniversary of the creation of Ovonic Battery Company (OBC); I had the prevailage of leading the company from its inception thru it's pioneering work in the field of Ni-MH Battrties under the mentorship of Stan. The OBC team changed the course of the history of electrification of automobiles; a great day for celebrations for all who contributed to the development and Commercialization of a breakthrough battery technology that launched a new class of vehicles, now known as HEV.'s...thanks to Stan's vision and untiring commitment to improving the quality of life thru science & technology....
Eden Spring
October 17, 2014
October 17, 2014
I think of Stan often.. The impact he made on the world and to individuals like myself.. You are forever missed Stan! Much love to the Ovshinsky family!
Subhash Dhar
October 17, 2014
October 17, 2014
Stan had a profound impact on a generation of scientifically curious entrepreneurs and all of them remember him and use his inspiration as they tread thru' their own course which, without the pioneering and exemplary work by Stan, would be treacherous. He was a great teacher and motivator; I miss him...
Carnicero Arcos
August 16, 2014
August 16, 2014
Conocí a Stan Ovshinsky esta misma noche en la red, intentando buscar inspiración en la causa de conseguir un mundo mejor. Solo puedo decir que intentaré seguir con su legado, que ha sido una piedra de toque en mi pensamiento y que ojalá podamos hacer realidad los sueños de tan apasionante vida como fue la suya.
Jabo, Sevilla, Andalucía.
Giovanni Cornutto
July 5, 2014
July 5, 2014
Hello to every single soul that have been blessed simply knowing something about Mr. Ovshinsky. He had a dream and worked hard (I believe harder than any of us) to see his dream come true, but he needed more time. His latest goal was  "... to get sun electricity as cheap as electricity from coal..."  and as I said, he needed more time, but WE are the time he needed. WE are his new arms, his new eyes, his new legs... WE can go where he couldn't... The greatest tribute for the greatest person of this moment in earth's life will be to continue his dream until it becomes a reality. He gave us everything to accomplish his dream, all we need to do is keep moving the wheel (there is no perpetual motion, somebody has to keep pushing. That somebody is US) .
We need to start spreading information about his solar panels (where to buy them, how to install them, etc.) here in the United States. He said on one of his presentations that it was a shame that none of his solar panels was sold in America; who buys all his production? Asian countries... it is a shame.
He spent all his life, all his research here in America for us to be the leaders in the world in sun/hydrogen energy and all we do is cry for the good man that left us...
God bless you Stanford Ovshinsky...
Eden Spring
November 24, 2013
November 24, 2013
Remembering and celebrating Stan's life, accomplishments and gifts to us all on his birthday today!
Robin Dibner
November 2, 2013
November 2, 2013
From Stan's daughter: The following was published on the 1st anniversary of Stan's death, making me smile as tears streamed down my cheeks. I don't know the writer, though Stan subscribed to this liberal British newspaper. The piece fully describes the breadth of Stan’s foresight and lasting impact. www.newstatesman.com/print/2013/10/remember-japans-yankee-genius
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Recent Tributes
Steven Dibner
October 18, 2023
October 18, 2023
Not a day goes by without my thinking about my amazing parents. When my Standad was the age I am now (69), all I needed to do was ask one good question to get him going, thinking and talking, highlighting good ideas and possibilities, referencing history and literature and cosmology, always tying things together with a sense of the nobility of a life committed to helping create a better world in whatever way is possible. To honor Standad I try to follow the dictum he stressed to Rosa: "Squeeze Life!"  October 17th is now past but the candle is still burning...
Benny Reichman
November 28, 2022
November 28, 2022
Stan was an inspiration to me and many other friends at ECD. I will always cherish these old good days working at ECD and the special warm atmosphere created by Stan and Iris.
John Tyler
November 28, 2022
November 28, 2022
Stan was a mentor to me over the 20 odd years that I worked at ECD. After living 80 odd years I realize what a gift that was. I was lucky to gain many skills both with technology but more importantly with how to interact and deal with people. Those were some of the best years of my life. I will always be very grateful to both he and Iris.
View all 160 tributes
Gallery
Sam Schankler and Stan, circa 1946. Sam worked with Stan on the Benjamin lathe and later at ECD.
101_0661
Another character drawn during a meeting
Some of the famous Stan's characters.
Stan & Iris hiking (~1960)
self-portrait (1960)
Power, oil on paper by Stan Ovshinsky
Sacco_Vanzetti by Stan Ovshinski, oil on paper
Stan & Norma lower left circa 1946
View all 115 items
Recent stories

Stan’s sketches

October 9, 2015
by Genie Mytilineou

Stan was a person with a lot of talents! He could be a very good painter. His sketches covered any corner of his notebooks and Iris was collected all of them. At the end were about 8 folders and a bunch of notebooks, full of sketches. All characters were different and I have the feeling that his emotions were reflected on them.

Stan's birthday party speech

February 8, 2013
by fabio albano
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Stan's witty humor, love for Rosa, for his family, friends and his positive look on life through the eyes of an inner child shines through this footage...

View all 29 stories

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