Aaron Charles Loder, 53, of Foxboro and New Bedford, MA lost his 11- year battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) on Monday, April 27, 2015.
Born on May 16, 1961 in Norwood, MA, Aaron was the oldest child of the late John A. and Diana (Harmon) Loder. Aaron lived in Foxboro his entire life before moving to the New Bedford Rehabilitation Hospital in 2006 when ALS took away his ability to care for himself.
Aaron graduated from Foxboro High School in 1980. He loved his family, fishing, cars, classic rock, dogs, cooking (especially barbequing), Moosehead beer and being outdoors. Aaron worked for many years as a cook at Don’s Diner in Plainville, MA. Aaron was a HUGE fan of all New England sports teams including his beloved hometown Patriots and Boston Red Sox and could often be found rooting fpr his teams with the nursing staff at NBRH. Aaron being a prolific Facebooker was instrumental in organizing his class’s 30th high school reunion in 2010, reconnecting with his classmates and starting a journey toward improving the lives of others with ALS and other neuromuscular diseases through his work with the Speak Your Mind Foundation.
In 2013 Aaron began working with Dan Bacher, a 2003 Foxboro High School graduate who founded the SpeakYourMind Foundation, a registered non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and support personalized assistive technologies for people with motor and speech disabilities. Loder and Bacher were introduced by Frank Mortimer, a long-time Foxboro Reporter staff member after writing a story about Bacher’s SYM Foundation.
At the time of his death Aaron was completing a large-scale music project with Bacher and his colleague Javed Gangjee. This new, continually developing technology would have allowed Aaron to access and control his computerized music library with a simple, eye-movement tracking device. Bacher and Gangjee will continue their work on Aaron’s behalf finding another person affected by ALS to donate Aaron’s equipment to who shares the same love and passion for classic and hard rock and roll as Aaron.
Aaron is survived by his brother John Loder of Foxboro, MA, sisters Corrine Loder of Wrentham, MA and Diana Loder Letscher of CA, as well as his friend Maureen Delaney of Foxboro, MA, the many loving nurses and staff, his roommate, Kent at NBRH and many, many friends near and far, who supported Aaron’s efforts to educate people about and ultimately to rid the world of ALS.
Services for Aaron will be on Saturday, May 9, 2015 at the Ginley Funeral Home, 892 Main Street, Walpole, MA. Calling hours are 11:00–1:00 with a prayer service at 12:45. Aaron will be buried alongside his parents at Maple Grove Cemetery in Walpole, MA.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to speakyourmindfoundation.org to continue the work Aaron had been so passionate about: finding a way for persons with ALS to communicate and interact with the world and prevent the disease from stealing the joy of music from them.