Ben R. Breed, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and brother passed peacefully on to his heavenly reward surrounded by his family on September 30, 2021 after a brief illness. He is survived by his beloved wife of 57 years, Janie Lee Breed, and sons Carter (wife Liz), Christopher, and Corey. Ben also leaves behind five adoring grandchildren, Ellie, Abigail, Catherine, Campbell, and Charlie. Ben is also survived by his older brother, Truman Breed, Jr., his younger sister, Wanda Breed Johnson, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Ben will always be remembered as a gentle giant of a man with a brilliant mind and abiding love for his wife and family. He was an accomplished theoretical physicist, working and thriving in a language that most can’t even begin to understand. He was extremely dedicated to his calling and truly lived the “life of the mind.”
Ben was born on December 18, 1936 in Dripping Springs, Texas to Truman and Allene Wilson Breed. His happy early life in the Hill Country was tragically interrupted by the untimely passing of his father in 1943, leaving his mother to care for three young children. Ben and his family moved to Austin following his father’s death where his mother was somehow able to work, raise the children, and hold on to the cherished family ranch outside of Dripping Springs that she and Ben’s father had purchased a few years before – a ranch that has provided so much joy to four generations of the family.
Growing up in Austin and moving several times during his youth, Ben attended several Austin elementary and junior high schools and graduated from Austin High School in 1954. He was accepted into Rice University in Houston (then called Rice Institute) which he attended for his freshman year on academic and ROTC scholarships. He transferred to the University of Texas at Austin and was awarded a B.S. in physics in 1958. Upon graduating from UT, Ben was commissioned as a junior officer in the United States Navy. He served in the Navy until 1961 and took great pride in being the navigation and communications officer in charge of navigating the USS Montrose independently across the Pacific in the days before global satellite navigation.
Upon his discharge from the Navy, Ben returned to Rice University in Houston and was awarded an M.S. degree, also in physics in 1964. While beginning to study for his PhD at Rice, Ben was introduced to Janie Lee, a vivacious southeast Texan then working as a laboratory assistant at MD Anderson hospital in Houston. Despite his shyness, they hit it off and were married in the Rice University chapel on June 20, 1964. By the end of July 1965, Ben had earned a PhD in physics from Rice, and he and Janie celebrated the birth of their first child, Carter.
The young family moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico where Ben took a position at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1967, Ben accepted a position as a senior scientist at Tracor, Inc. in Austin. He worked at Tracor for two years, during which time he and Janie welcomed the arrival of their second child, Christopher, in November of 1968. In 1969, Ben accepted a position as head of the applied physics section at the newly-founded Radian Corporation in Austin. He worked for Radian for about six years before leaving to found his own consultancy. During this time, in 1973, Ben and Janie also welcomed the birth of their third son, Corey.
In 1975 in tandem with his friend and fellow scientist, Kermit Harvel, they founded Breed and Harvel Associates. As a private consultant for the next 30 years, Ben reached the pinnacle of his scientific career. He specialized in acoustics and magnetics. He did work for numerous defense contractors such as Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft, and Martin Marietta. He was rightfully proud of his contributions to the defense of the United States, especially in his work developing algorithms that facilitated ever better sonar submarine detection systems. He published numerous articles (in a scientific language that few can understand) in peer-reviewed periodicals and has multiple patents to his name.
Upon his retirement in 2005, he and Janie spent many happy years in Austin and at their beautiful house on the ranch on Barton Creek. Ben continued to write and do research, never giving up the physics that he loved so dearly. The arrivals of his five grandchildren between the years 1997 and 2012 made his golden years filled with joy.
Ben was a brilliant, quiet, and loving man whose honesty and integrity made powerful impressions on all who knew and loved him. He will be sorely missed and long remembered.
