Russell Pearce, aged 87, passed away in his home with family beside him at 10:50 am on February 2, 2021.
A resident of Huntsville since the mid-1960s, Russ was born in Vandling, Pennsylvania and traveled extensively as a young man in his capacity as a field engineer and electronic technician, notably in the USAF during the Korean War with the 90th Bomb Squadron.
He ultimately landed in Rocket City where he continued working in electrical engineering with GE and RCA. He contributed to the design and operation of navigational and launch computers for NASA, including the Third Manned Skylab Mission, Apollo 15, and the Apollo Soyez Mission.
He worked the remainder of his professional life with Intergraph Computing, retiring on January 8, 1993.
Upon retirement, Russ turned his engineer’s precision and considerable artistic talent to the pursuit of computer draftsmanship. He threw himself passionately into the study and practice of both nature and studio photography through which he made many meaningful associations. He composed studies of the passage of seasons at the Madison County Nature Trail. Russ became an accomplished and influential canine photographer working with his wife Carol who collaborated with him as set designer and wrangler.
Russ Pearce is survived by his wife of 52 years, Carol Pearce, two daughters, Jinny Pearce and Lillian Smith, and four grandchildren: Genna Smith, Rider Heise-Pearce, Maisy Smith and Ivy Smith.
He was a gentle and giving husband and father, and known affectionately by his grandchildren as Boo. On special outings he would buy his daughters fistfuls of pens from an office supply store in downtown Huntsville and every Christmas decades later would let all the grandchildren pick out tee shirts at Lowe Mill where he regularly went to talk with artists and enjoy a coffee. Russ Pearce, Boo, lives on vibrantly in all our hearts.
