Kuperstein, Michael Ph.D. of Natick, MA. Michael Kuperstein passed away unexpectedly, but peacefully in his home on March 5, 2018. He was the loving father of Zachary, beloved son of Rachel Markowitz, brother of Isaiah and Leah, uncle of Adam and Daniel, and formerly married to Lisa Zizzi for 27 years. Born in Israel, Michael immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six and grew up in the New York Tristate area. After receiving his Ph.D. in neuroscience from MIT, he went on to author two academic books and patent seven inventions including, in 1987, the world’s first neural network robot that learns from its own experience. As an entrepreneur, he founded three companies based on his inventions of handwriting recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition. He leaves behind his fourth start-up, ViziApps, based on his invention of a system for rapid visual creation of mobile apps with no coding. While Michael was considered by most a scientist, engineer, and businessman, he considered himself an artist. He lived and breathed creation, including painting, poetry, music, and writing. Though he rarely shared his artistic brilliance with the world, his creative sensitivity lives on through his son. In the words of Carl Sagan, which Michael often echoed, “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” A memorial gathering will be announced in the coming weeks to friends and family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the MIT Media Lab Anniversary Fund at https://giving.mit.edu/taxonomy/term/99.