2/1/1932 – 1/12/09

Rinehart Baron died on January 12, 2009 due to complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was born in Berlin, Germany on February 1, 1932, the son of Hans and Edith Alexander Baron. Rinehart, his parents and his younger sister Renate immigrated to the United States in 1939 to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany. At first they lived in Great Neck, NY. Then, due to changes in his father’s positions as historian of the Italian Renaissance, they moved to Wellesley, MA, Princeton, NJ and Chicago.

Rinehart graduated from the University of Chicago with degrees in physics and math, from Cornell University with a masters in physics, and from Case Western Reserve University with a PhD in physics. While a graduate student at Case he met Martha Alice Colquitt, a graduate student in nursing, and they were married in 1964. Erika Lea, their first daughter, was born while they lived in Cleveland.

After graduating he worked in industrial research in Connecticut, where their daughter Melanie Claire was born. They moved to Long Island, NY, where they lived for 35 years. He was a scientist and a technical writer and trainer for various industries until 2001, at age 69.

In 2005 Rinehart and Martha moved to Greenville to live near Melanie and her family, after the worsening of his Parkinson’s disease and development of dementia.

Rinehart is survived by daughter Erika Pretell (Eduardo) and their children Sofia and Marco of Redwood City, CA; daughter Melanie Baron-Alpert (Richard Alpert) and their children Alexander and Adina of Greer; sister Renate Franciscono (Marcel) of Urbana, IL and their children Nadia and Michael and their families.