ROCHESTER, NY. — Patricia Ann Stroud, a pioneering rocket scientist, teacher, and long-time resident and gardener in Rochester’s 19th Ward, died peacefully, but unexpectedly, in her sleep on June 1, 2022.
Born Patricia Ann Tate, on Nov. 16, 1940, in Madisonville, Kentucky, to parents who were educators, she grew up with her four siblings on a small lake outside of Earlington, Kentucky, – the beginning of a lifelong love for the water. She was an accomplished swimmer, and water skier, and just a month before her death enjoyed a ride on a jet boat on the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.
In the early 1960s, she worked as a rocket scientist with the Army Missile Command in Huntsville, Alabama, and with McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri, contributing to the development of the Nike Hercules antimissile missile system and the Gemini Space Capsule trainer.
In 1969, she moved to Rochester when her husband, Carlos Stroud, of Centertown, Kentucky, joined the faculty of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. They raised three children in the city, all educated in the city’s public schools.
Patricia Stroud taught classes in applied and engineering mathematics at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, she also organized and led a volunteer math enrichment program for students in Rochester City Schools 37, 16, and 12. Her love of mathematics, and care for young people of all backgrounds, inspired many to make careers in science and technology.
At a time when many left the city for the suburbs, she planted flower gardens for over 30 years at her house on Genesee Park Blvd. She was also a quite skilled artisan in a variety of fields including sewing, quilting, knitting, needlepoint, and stained glass. Often her work was inspired by mathematics including the work of Benoit Mandlebrot and Roger Penrose, who once requested a photograph of her quilting.
She is survived by her husband, Carlos Stroud; her children, Cynthia Koch (Karl), Rhonda Stroud (Larry Nittler), and Gregory Stroud (Robin Breeding); three grandchildren, Ingrid Koch (William Bock), Erik Koch(Saki Sameshima), and Lara Stroud; and her brother, Charles F. Tate (Phyllis).
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to Genesee Country Village and Museum (gcv.org) in her name.
