Obituary
Robert Ivan Gray

Robert Ivan Gray — Bob to everyone who knew him — died peacefully on April 19, 2026, in Durham, North Carolina. He was 95 years old. A chemical engineer by training, an entrepreneur by instinct, and a teacher by calling, Bob lived a life shaped by intellectual curiosity, determination, and a deep love for his family.

Bob was born in 1930 in White Plains, New York. Son of Howard Aaron Gray, a pioneer in educational film making, and Grace Nock Gray, an accomplished oil painter and teacher, he grew up in Hasting-on-Hudson, New York. He earned his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University before completing his doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the late 1950s. It was at UT Knoxville, that he met Elise Norris, a Kentucky-born artist pursuing her master’s degree in art and textiles. The two married on August 26, 1959, in Burkesville, Kentucky, beginning a partnership that would span more than half a century.

After earning his doctorate, Bob began his career with Union Carbide Corporation, first working on the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later at the Union Carbide Technical Center in Tarrytown, New York. He and Elise settled in nearby Irvington, one of the quiet Hudson River towns of Westchester County, where they raised their family.

But Bob was never content to follow a single path. An entrepreneurial drive ran through everything he did, and it eventually led him to found two innovative medical technology companies - Bios and Ultracorp - that developed novel approaches to non-invasively monitoring cardiac function. At a time when the medical device industry was still finding its footing, Bob saw the potential for engineering to transform patient care without the risks of invasive and costly procedures. These ventures reflected the hallmarks of his character: rigorous science, practical imagination, and a willingness to bet on ideas others hadn’t yet recognized.

In the early-1990s, Bob made another bold move, leaving industry and entrepreneurship for academia. He joined the newly founded School of Engineering at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Bob helped shape the biomedical engineering program from its earliest years - teaching, mentoring, and contributing to building a school from the ground up. It was work that drew on every chapter of his career, from the laboratory to the boardroom to the classroom, and it earned him the title of Professor Emeritus, which Mercer’s School of Engineering proudly maintains on its faculty roster.

Macon became home in every sense. The Grays put down roots on Oglethorpe Street, and Elise continued her art while volunteering as a reader and artist in kindergarten classrooms at Hartley Elementary School. One of her sculptures was acquired by the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon.

Bob and Elise eventually retired to Durham, North Carolina, where Elise died on May 4, 2014, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, with Bob at her side. Throughout their years together, the Grays were active members of the Unitarian Universalist community at the Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, New York and the High Street Unitarian Universalist Church in Macon, Georgia. Among the places they held most dear was Star Island, the rocky retreat center ten miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ families have gathered for generations. Bob and Elise returned to Star Island year after year, drawn by its stark beauty, its spirit of community, and the simple rhythm of days spent among friends, ocean air, and unhurried conversation. It was, for both, a place where the world slowed down enough to be truly seen - and a tradition they passed on to their children and grandchildren.

Bob is survived by his three children: Dean Gray and his partner Vincent LaRouche of Lenox, Massachusetts, along with grandchildren Isabel Gray and Duncan Gray; Karen Gray and her husband Thomas Kane of Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with grandchildren August Kane and T. Finnian Kane; and Kyle Gray and his wife Elizabeth Hunter Gray of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, along with grandchildren Hunter Gray, Aedin Gray, Allegra Gray, and Harper Gray. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Elise Norris Gray, and his brother Richard Neal Gray.

Bob Gray’s life bridged two worlds that are too often kept apart. He came of age during the rapid technical advances of mid-century America — the era of industrial chemistry, early computing, and the birth of the medical device industry — and he thrived in that world, building companies and solving problems with an engineer’s precision. But he was equally at home in the world of creativity and artistic expression, deeply involved in and fiercely supportive of Elise’s remarkable career as a sculptor. He understood that the impulse to build a better medical device and the impulse to shape clay into something beautiful came from the same place: a belief that the world could be made better by people who paid close attention to it. He lived that belief every day, and he leaves it behind in everything he built.
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A celebration of Bob’s life will be held privately this summer on Star Island, New Hampshire. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Star Island Corporation or Mercer University School of Engineering