The Siemens Machine Tool Business sadly announced the death of Randy Pearson, 70, on May 21in Reno, Nevada, following a long battle with lung cancer. Pearson had recently retired after more than 20 years with Siemens, where he served as dealer support manager.
“When I think of Randy, I think of my good fortune in life to work with an individual that cared as passionately and deeply about his work as I do,” said Rajas Sukthankar, vice president of the motion control group. “I first met Randy when he was hired as an application engineer at Hyundai Machine Tools in 1995. Our association went back over two decades. I had the chance to work with him as both a customer and a valued Siemens employee. As a skilled machinist himself, Randy trained and educated a generation of new machinists in his career. I treasure the time I spent working with Randy and will miss his infectious laugh and energy.”
Randy’s associate in machine tool training at Siemens, Chris Pollack, recalled: “I was always amazed how he remembered everyone’s name. Walking around a trade show with Randy was like being with the mayor of the town. Everyone knew him, and, more importantly, he knew everyone. He was always there to help others and he surely helped me a lot in my career.”
Marion Kica, executive assistant at the Siemens Machine Tool headquarters, added: “He always brightened my day with his humor and good cheer, plus he was there to handle all the engineering questions callers would have. He was a kind, supportive friend who took his responsibilities very seriously but could still find humor in life’s ups and downs.”
John Meyer, head of marketing communications for the motion control group, was a close associate of Pearson throughout all his years at Siemens. “As a marketer, when I came to Siemens, I had a challenge to learn about machine tools and manufacturing technologies such as CNC,” he said. “I wasn’t an engineer, so Randy took me under his wing to teach me what I needed to know to be successful in my career. It became a technical education over 20+ years, and I’m very thankful for the knowledge Randy instilled in me.”
During his long career in the machine-tool industry, Pearson served as an applications engineer or sales manager at such companies as Bridgeport, Toyoda, ROMI, Kitamura and Hyundai, as well as machine tool dealer Iverson.
Always willing to share the talents he possessed, Pearson authored CNC advice columns that appeared in several machine tool magazines, over the years. He brought a wealth of technical expertise in CNC technology along with his hands-on practical experience as a machinist, when giving his help to the industry.
A native of Chicago, Pearson and his wife Susan, whom he met when they both worked at Bridgeport, were married 34 years and had two children. Following in his dad’s footsteps, Pearson’s son Jeremy has now been with DMG machine tools for 10 years. After his retirement from Siemens, Pearson and his wife decided to “go west” and landed in Reno.
A memorial service for Pearson will be held at 11 am on July 13 at United Methodist Church in Roselle, Illinois. Donations can be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Lung Association.
