Rudolf Edgar Prechter was born on December 16, 1939 in Marktoberdorf, Germany, the capital of Bavaria. Rudy, as he is fondly known by everyone, passed away peacefully at home in Greenwich, on March 12, surrounded by his family.
Rudy spent his childhood in Munich, Germany and, as a young adult in 1964, emigrated to the United States whereupon he settled in Rochester, New York. Rudy always had an avid love for technology and cars, especially German BMWs. While earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rudy worked happily as a car mechanic.
Rudy’s first engineering position was at the Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory at RIT. In 1979, he moved to Princeton, NJ and worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he and his colleagues achieved numerous accolades for their scientific research on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. Rudy ended his long Engineering career working on groundbreaking cancer research at Loma Linda University in California.
Rudy was an avid tennis player and could always been found on the weekends playing with his various tennis partners. He was also a serious beer aficionado – especially German beer – and he always generously provided a cold beer for anyone who came to visit.
Rudy is survived by his loving wife, Joanne Prechter of Greenwich, his daughter and her husband, Heidi and Jim Mangines of Greenwich, his grandchildren Madison Mangines, Harrison Mangines and Cutter Mangines and Rudy’s family in Munich, Germany who he remained very close with throughout his life – his niece Ingeborg Stroh, her two sons and their families.
