Stephen Alexander Lewis

Stephen Alexander Lewis, a former Lab physicist, died May 26, at his home in Oakland after a nearly three-year battle with colorectal cancer. He was 70.

Born February 5, 1941 in New York to David and Muriel Lewis, and was raised in Riverdale. He graduated from the Fieldston School in 1959, and from Yale University in 1963. He received a Ph.D. in physics with honors from Yale University in 1969.

Lewis’ vocation was the development of mission-critical systems in accelerator control and physics data acquisition. He was one of the world’s EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) experts. His major contributions were to the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab for Superhilac, Bevatron, Gammasphere, BaBar and Spallation Neutron Source; LLNL for the National Ignition Facility; and finally at the Stanford Linear Accelerator working on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) until the time of his passing.

Lewis also was a pilot, sailor, soccer and auto racing fan, world traveler and an avid cyclist.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanna Lewis; brothers, Dan and Robert Lewis, children, Rachel, Aaron and Sam Lewis and Paul and Christy Geiger, and grandsons, Alex and Zach Lewis, Henry Dalzell and Kiran Gangadharan. Donations in his name may be made to the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area.