Obituary of George Ronald Auth
George Ronald Auth, electronics technology researcher, farmer and collector died on Saturday December 14, 2024, at 83 years old. A long-time resident of Monroe Township, NJ and current resident of Boonton, NJ, he passed away due to complications following a hip replacement surgery and dementia.
Born in March 1941 to Joseph Auth and Gertrude Grimm - both children of immigrants who met in Newark - Ron’s childhood was spent on a farm in Monroe Township where the family grew vegetables and raised canaries for sale as pets. His father also worked for years at Mack Truck and his mother worked at the rug mill in Hightstown.
Ron graduated from Middlesex County Vocational & Technical High School in 1959 with a degree in Electronics, Radio and Television. He chose to begin to work immediately afterwards, starting a long career at RCA Labs in Princeton. Ron worked as a laboratory technician in the astro-electronics product division at RCA for 35 years, making many lifelong friends amongst his colleagues. He continued his career at Princeton Gamma Tech, where he helped to develop and build cutting-edge gamma radiation technology and radiation detectors until he retired in 2008.
Ron married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Norcross, in May 1960 and had 2 children from that marriage. In 1969 they separated. He then met and married Susan Handler in Ann Arbor, MI on January 1, 1971, and remained happily married for 52 years. Together with their daughter Rachel, they lived in the home that GR (Susan’s nickname for him) designed and built - one of his proudest accomplishments.
Ron was a character - outside of work, he was a 6am regular at the local diner, farmed throughout his life, enjoyed tinkering with antique radios and loved going to the flea market to find unusual treasures. He was always lending a hand to friends and neighbors to fix broken cars/lawn mowers/household items or to offer up whatever tool was needed for completing a job. Ron loved nothing more than picking up mechanical objects that people left out for the trash, bringing them home and repairing them to be used again. He had lifelong passions for working the land, building and fixing, and was happiest in his workshop or at the family farm covered in dirt and grime, smoking his pipe.
Ron was predeceased by his wife, Susan in 2023; and his former wife, Shirley in 2017. He is survived by his children, Teri Nalbone and her spouse Chris, of Chicago, IL; Richard Auth of Chicago, IL; and Rachel Melgaard and her spouse Jeffrey of Montville, NJ; his grandchildren, Pace Nalbone and his spouse, Victoria of Pittsburgh, PA; and Emma McGregor and her spouse Ned of Chicago, IL; Penelope, Jolene and Freya Melgaard of Montville, NJ and his great-granddaughter, Sadie Rhys McGregor.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 4th from 3:00 to 5:00pm at Norman Dean Home for Services, 16 Righter Ave, Denville. Arrangements are in the care of Codey & Mackey Funeral Home of Boonton. To share condolences or memories with the family, please visit CodeyMackeyFH.com. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ron’s honor to Alzheimer's Association would be most appreciated.