Milton Wood Raymond, son of the late Drs. C. Stanley Raymond and Mabel C. Raymond passed away peacefully on December 9, 2009 at the home of his long-time companion, Adie Simonetti. Mr. Raymond was born in Boston on May 21, 1921. He was 88 years old.
Milt graduated from Wrentham Center High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts and went on to study engineering at M.I.T., graduating in 1944. His thesis on machine gun design landed him a job at his alma mater working on War Department contracts. He applied his practical design expertise to a variety of projects including: the flamethrower used in the Pacific war effort, torpedo propellants, liquid fuel rockets, tanks and aircraft armaments, and the high speed mechanical switch used in America’s first nuclear submarine. Of his time as a weapon designer, Milt said, “I was the gadgetier. The professors knew the science but when it came to fabricating their theories they didn’t know which end of the screwdriver to use. I was in hot demand by the researchers.”
After the dropping of the atomic bomb, Milt’s focus shifted to the peaceful resolution of conflict, a sixty-five year quest that resulted in the recent publication of the philosophy he called “Social Reason.” He was a member of the Ethical Society of Boston and the World’s Citizen Party and attended the Dov Ronan Seminars.
Milt lived for many years at Old Joe Clark’s in Cambridge, but also spent a lot of time at the farm of friends in Concord, New Hampshire, where he materialized his inventions from household radon separators to the backwards recumbent bicycle.
He was predeceased by his brothers, Thurber Raymond and Dr. Bradley Raymond and leaves behind nieces and nephews as well as many others who consider him to be part of their families.
Funeral arrangements were private.
Donations in Milt’s memory may be sent to the Ethical Society of Boston, P.O. Box 381934, Cambridge, MA 02238 or to The World Citizens’ Party, 2161 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140.