Kenneth J. Plotkin
April 13, 1945 ~ July 17, 2015
Dr. Kenneth J. Plotkin died on Friday, July 17, 2015, after a four-year battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 70 years old.
Born and raised in New York City, Ken grew up in a loving home with his two parents, Moe and Sarah Plotkin, and his two older brothers, Henry and Charles Plotkin. Charles, Ken's twin brother, arrived ten minutes before Ken. Ken attended college at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he earned his bachelor's degree, and graduate school at Cornell University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. In April of 1972, he began his incredible career as an acoustician at Wyle Laboratories. Ken worked at Wyle Laboratories for 43 years, rising to the position of Chief Scientist. During his time at Wyle, Ken did important work in the areas of aircraft and highway noise modeling, atmospheric sound propagation, community noise, rocket noise, high-speed fluctuating flow, truck tire noise, psychoacoustics, community noise, noise control, and sonic boom. He became a world renowned expert on sonic boom, a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and a Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In August of 1972, Ken married his wife, Barbara (Zesk) Plotkin, and the two were happily together ever since. Ken and Barbara enjoyed exciting adventures as a couple during the first several years of their marriage, including caving, skiing, and mountain climbing. In 1978, Ken and Barbara decided to embark upon a new kind of exciting adventure, and had a daughter, Sarah (Plotkin) Paul. Ken was a wonderful father to Sarah, and the two of them enjoyed many memorable times, including regularly visiting the duck pond, performing as a duo in tap dancing recitals, and working together to defeat many a computer game. In recent years, Ken had begun to impart his wisdom on his two granddaughters, Sophia and Charlotte Paul, ages 4 and 2, who he loved dearly.
Not only was Ken a brilliant acoustician and a loving husband, father, and grandfather, he was also a kind-hearted person with a wry sense of humor and a zest for life. Just two months before Ken's death, a United States Congressman arranged for Ken to ride in an SNJ-5 airplane as a thank you for the pro bono analysis that Ken provided of the expected noise levels at the National Mall from a historic aircraft flyover. Ken jubilantly described this airplane ride as the best one he'd ever had. Ken loved cars as well as planes, and was an avid fan of motor racing. Never one to underachieve, Ken went from watching car races to becoming an award-winning editor, reporter, and photographer for Motorsport.com. Ken's success in this area was no surprise to his family and friends, as they all knew that Ken couldn't help but excel in everything that he did.
Ken will always be remembered as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, colleague, and friend. He is survived by his wife Barbara Plotkin; his daughter Sarah Paul; his granddaughters Sophia and Charlotte Paul; and his brothers Henry and Charles Plotkin.
Visitation will be Tuesday, July 21, 2015 from 1 pm to 2 pm, and services will follow from 2 pm to 3 pm, at the Money & King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Avenue, Vienna, Virginia 22180. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, at https://community.lymphoma.org, in memory of Dr. Kenneth J. Plotkin.
Funeral Home:
Money & King Funeral Home
171 W. Maple Ave.
Vienna, VA
US 22180
Born and raised in New York City, Ken grew up in a loving home with his two parents, Moe and Sarah Plotkin, and his two older brothers, Henry and Charles Plotkin. Charles, Ken's twin brother, arrived ten minutes before Ken. Ken attended college at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he earned his bachelor's degree, and graduate school at Cornell University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. In April of 1972, he began his incredible career as an acoustician at Wyle Laboratories. Ken worked at Wyle Laboratories for 43 years, rising to the position of Chief Scientist. During his time at Wyle, Ken did important work in the areas of aircraft and highway noise modeling, atmospheric sound propagation, community noise, rocket noise, high-speed fluctuating flow, truck tire noise, psychoacoustics, community noise, noise control, and sonic boom. He became a world renowned expert on sonic boom, a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and a Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In August of 1972, Ken married his wife, Barbara (Zesk) Plotkin, and the two were happily together ever since. Ken and Barbara enjoyed exciting adventures as a couple during the first several years of their marriage, including caving, skiing, and mountain climbing. In 1978, Ken and Barbara decided to embark upon a new kind of exciting adventure, and had a daughter, Sarah (Plotkin) Paul. Ken was a wonderful father to Sarah, and the two of them enjoyed many memorable times, including regularly visiting the duck pond, performing as a duo in tap dancing recitals, and working together to defeat many a computer game. In recent years, Ken had begun to impart his wisdom on his two granddaughters, Sophia and Charlotte Paul, ages 4 and 2, who he loved dearly.
Not only was Ken a brilliant acoustician and a loving husband, father, and grandfather, he was also a kind-hearted person with a wry sense of humor and a zest for life. Just two months before Ken's death, a United States Congressman arranged for Ken to ride in an SNJ-5 airplane as a thank you for the pro bono analysis that Ken provided of the expected noise levels at the National Mall from a historic aircraft flyover. Ken jubilantly described this airplane ride as the best one he'd ever had. Ken loved cars as well as planes, and was an avid fan of motor racing. Never one to underachieve, Ken went from watching car races to becoming an award-winning editor, reporter, and photographer for Motorsport.com. Ken's success in this area was no surprise to his family and friends, as they all knew that Ken couldn't help but excel in everything that he did.
Ken will always be remembered as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, colleague, and friend. He is survived by his wife Barbara Plotkin; his daughter Sarah Paul; his granddaughters Sophia and Charlotte Paul; and his brothers Henry and Charles Plotkin.
Visitation will be Tuesday, July 21, 2015 from 1 pm to 2 pm, and services will follow from 2 pm to 3 pm, at the Money & King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Avenue, Vienna, Virginia 22180. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, at https://community.lymphoma.org, in memory of Dr. Kenneth J. Plotkin.
Funeral Home:
Money & King Funeral Home
171 W. Maple Ave.
Vienna, VA
US 22180
View current weather.
Memories Timeline
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
Ken was a terrific mentor for me when I joined Wyle in 1984. His brilliance as a scientist was only matched by his sense of humor. I’ll miss him very much, as will all those who worked with him over the years.
Today is a sad day for me due to the death of my friend, Ken Plotkin… He was one of the first people I met at Motorsport.com when it was just one of a hundred fledgling motor sports websites. We had dinner at a “Motorsports Expo” in Washington D.C. in the late 90’s put on by Dave Renninger. It took him 20 minutes to explain to me what he did for a living. He never mentioned that he had a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. He just tried to explain to me his interest in acoustics and he was so happy to be paid to research it. We became friends instantly and remained so for years. Ken loved USAC/Indy Car racing… For years, I made credential requests for him at so many of those tracks. For reasons I’m sure involved family and work, he slowed down on covering races for Motorsport.com. It has been years since I have heard from him. His death came as a shock… When I heard from Jack Durbin today of his death, it was like being punched… I sit here now, remembering him.. I want his family and our mutual friends to know what a good friend he was to me and what a brilliant guy he was… RIP my friend…
To Ken’s Family: Those of us who live in the HEHA neighborhood will miss Ken. He was all the things mentioned in his obituary as well as an engaged and friendly neighbor. We will miss him greatly. Many sympathies to your family.
Today is a very sad day and the world is a little poorer with the death of my friend Ken. He helped us put the sonic boom program on wonderful scientific footing. His model is still used today by all the US DoD as the definitive answer for all sonic boom prediction. But more than the scientific excellence that he brought to the job I miss his humor and sharp wit. He was a good friend to our NATO committee and we will miss him dearly Bob Lee former leader of the USAF Noise Effects Branch Wright Patterson AFB Ohio
Dear Henry, I’m sad to learn of your brother Kenneth’s death. I never met him, but he obviously was a person of intellect, fun, and family love. In time, I know, your pain will be replaced by the many good memories of your years together. Fondly, Gerry
Henry – We are so very sorry for the loss of your brother! We will certainly keep you and your family in our prayers!
I worked with Ken at Wyle from 2000 to 2010, and what I remember most about my relationship with Ken is that he respected me professionally. I was not a scientist, but he saw value in my ability to interpret acoustical concepts to a lay audience. Ken had an unusual sense of humor which I greatly appreciated. He was one of a kind and left his enduring mark on the world of acoustics.
To Ken’s family and friends, My deep condolences to each of you at Ken’s passing. I am a faculty member at Penn State who collaborated with Ken on a number of projects for Wyle over the years. Ken was a fantastic mentor, human being, and inspiration to me. When we were not talking about work topics (sonic booms and outdoor sound), we were talking about parenting, and for Ken, grandparenting. I will very much miss Ken. Sadly, I won’t be able to come down to the services on 7/21 as I will be watching kids and working, but my thoughts will be with everyone who was influenced by this amazing person. Every minute I have spent with Ken has been a great honor and privilege.
I met Ken while working on my sonic boom related research in graduate school in the mid 1990s and have enjoyed various interactions with him ever since. I liked seeing him do his happy dance whenever data was successfully collected in the field. He was a beautiful person with a beautiful mind and will be missed! Condolences to his family.
Henry, I am sorry for the loss of your brother. My prayers are with you and the family. Lilah Gumbas
Breaks my heart. I remember a simpler time flying model airplanes, dinner with everyone including Grandma, Uncle Moe and Aunt Sarah and Charles and Kenneth, Uncle Moey always having hot cherry peppers with his meal which I still continue. Shooting free throws with Henry. Mowing the back yard with a push mower I was so happy being the bartender in the basement after bar-mitzvah. And of course everyone’s favorite cookies that grandma always had in the hall closet (the nabisco ones with the marshmallow in the middle surrounded by two vanilla wafers). Wish I could be there tomorrow. Love always. Alan
Ken and I had many enjoyable times together at acoustic society meetings (SAE 21). We often had meals together and respected each other’s expertise and professionalism. He and I both stayed over an extra day after a meeting in Oslo to drink Norwegian beer and watch the independence day celebrations. He also participated on a project we did in the Grand Canyon. We both began our careers only 1 year apart – he at Wyle and me at Bolt Beranek and Newman – and at conferences found ourselves expressing the same opinions and concerns about some technical work or other. I will miss him.
My condolences to the family in these difficult times. I have known and worked with Ken for most of his career. Early on was the development of MDBoom to support the emerging use of CFD for the analysis of sonic boom. To the present day where we were working to together on the current NASA Low Boom Demo Program. He was an industry leader and an internationally recognized expert in the acoustic field. Always supportive and thoughtful and ready to contribute solutions needed. I and the rest of the industry will miss him but his contributions will persist for the future.
I have had the privilege of working with Ken for over 16 years, including a significant part of the formative years of my professional life. I am deeply saddened by his passing, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to know him, work with him, and benefit from his technical genius over the years. He has created with his mind what will follow him in perpetuity as a legacy of tireless ingenuity and selfless humanity. May he rest in peace!
The world of acoustics will dearly miss you. You were brilliant in your mastery of the science. May your family and friends find peace (and quiet).
Breaks my heart. I remember a simpler time flying model airplanes, dinner with everyone including Grandma, Uncle Moe and Aunt Sarah and Charles and Kenneth, Uncle Moey always having hot cherry peppers with his meal which I still continue. Shooting free throws with Henry. Mowing the back yard with a push mower I was so happy being the bartender in the basement after bar-mitzvah. And of course everyone’s favorite cookies that grandma always had in the hall closet (the nabisco ones with the marshmallow in the middle surrounded by two vanilla wafers). Wish I could be there tomorrow. Love always. Alan
I worked with Ken at Wyle from 1985 to 1992. Ken distinguished himself in whatever he worked on. I owe a lot to Ken for my knowledge of aircraft and vehicular traffic noise. Kens sense of humor always helped to break tense moments or provide a bit of levity when needed, like the time I asked him where the tapping machine was located, and he got up from his desk to do a little syncopated dance.
May we all be thankful to have shared Ken’s many gifts. As Chief Scientist at Wyle Ken was a mentor to me for many years; he was a rock – always there, and sometimes hard to budge. But we trusted our Chief and he trusted us. He was as eager to learn new things as he was to share his vast knowledge. He trusted his instincts and was never afraid to admit he did not know or understand something. He had passion and logic and never confused the two this (and his many other gifts) made Ken a truly great man, colleague, and engineer to me and many others.
To Ken’s family and friends: I met Ken through my work as an environmental noise analyst for the Air Force’s noise programs [Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) Program and the Environmental Impact Analysis Process (EIAP)]. I was impressed with Ken’s keen intelligence and his wry sense of humor. Ken had the ability to explain the key components of noise to those of us with no acoustic background whatsoever. In fact, Ken’s explanation of noise basics is a key component in the appendices of many Air Force Environmental Impact Studies. My sincere condolences to Ken’s family – I know you will truly miss him.
I am proud to have worked with Ken on many projects over the years, especially updating Noisemap in the 90s. He made me try harder and dig deeper, because that’s what Ken did. His strong work ethic reminded me of my dad. He was one of the reasons I came back to Wyle in the mid 2000s. He was a brilliant man and will be severely missed by me and many others. Thanks, Ken, for a lot of great years.
I offer sincere sympathies to you; Ken’s family, technical associates and friends in his community and recreational activities. We are very grateful for our brief acquaintance, for his expertise and dedication to expanding knowledge and technology with his unique and rare skills in acoustics and sonic boom propagation. We are thankful for the synergy Ken manifested between family and employer which he extended through academia, industry, technical societies and more.
My sincere condolences to Ken’s family. You are in our prayers. Ken was a brilliant scientist with solid understanding of acoustics and sonic boom. He was a great teacher / mentor to many. He had a great sense of humor that made interactions within his teams easy. This is a huge loss and we will miss him.
Please accept my condolences to the extended Plotkin Family on Ken’s passing. I would like to commend Ken on a life well-lived and to its fullest, with courage and humor and keen intelligence, as well as overt caring for others, and making a difference in the world. I am sad to lose you my friend and I will miss you. I am very thankful for the chance I had to collaborate with you over the past 4 years.
I had the pleasure to collaborate with Ken over the years on a number of NPS-related issues, ranging widely from OHV noise propagation modeling to aircraft/sonic boom effects on structures. Ken was a leader in park ambient and noise assessment; his contribution is undeniable. I will miss Ken, his passion, professionalism, and unique sense of humor. My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and the many professional colleagues he inspired.
Ken was a delightfully unique individual. Within him was a brilliant mind, a team spirit, a willingness to share thoughts, and an on-target sense of humor. One doesn’t often find that combination in a single individual. Both his assessment of sonic boom issues and his racing photos were outstanding. In a discussion prior to a National Park Service field measurement trip a group was discussing the issue of high temperatures, perhaps as high as 105F. His response, “But it’s a DRY heat.” That was Ken. You’ll be missed Ken.
Ken has been a good-hearted mentor, helpful expert, and Acoustical Society of America pal for nearly three decades. I will miss his wry humor and enthusiastic tales about his life as a race car reporter!
To Ken’s family, I did not have much opportunity to work directly with Ken, but I have benefitted greatly from his efforts through my collaborations with Wyle. I am sorry for your loss. Regards, Alan
I am so sorry to hear this news. it is a sad time.
Without Ken’s help in my research and reviews of my drafts, I would have been greatly handicapped in writing two NASA publications on the history of sonic boom research. After numerous phone calls and countless emails, I was glad to finally meet him in person two years ago. His technical skills and scientific knowledge will be sorely missed.
I am truly devastated by the news of Kens passing. Not only was he a national asset, but he was also one of the kindest people I ever knew. He will be sorely missed. I had the pleasure of working with Ken on the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program, where he played an instrumental role in the success of the project. His Dance of Joy celebrating the historic flight on 27 August 2003 is one of my favorite memories of Ken. While not superbly choreographed, it will forever bring a smile to my face and Im sure to everyone else who had the pleasure of witnessing it. Its difficult to imagine the world without Kens kindness, wit and remarkable intelligence. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family for their loss.
Ken was a true professional, someone who you could rely on to deliver a honest and scientifically based opinion. Personally, Ken was a kind and gentle soul; he will truly be missed.
I have known Ken for more than ten years. He was a wonderful person and a very patient and resourceful mentor. I enjoyed our interactions and was looking forward to working with him. He will always be in my thoughts and prayers.
It was great working with you over the years. Using your PCBOOM methodologies and other reports made great contributions to my success over the years. In life, we probably over-value our engineering contributions and under-value our interpersonal contributions–or at least family and non-work friends don’t get to appreciate our engineering contributions. For the latter, please pass on that I say your work will have the greatest impact enabling the coming shaped sonic boom transportation and protecting the public from loud and damaging sonic booms. I’ll also add some interpersonal contributions of yours that I will always value too. I’ve appreciated your support for saving the whales–they are delicious. While the F-5SSBD nose did grow on me, I personally cannot agree that the original looks emaciated–but I’ve been getting used to the really emaciated noses of our current designs. And thank you for the code comments that made me laugh. Ps. Ken was an Associate Fellow of AIAA
I did not work with Ken a lot, but enough to recognize his exceptional expertise in the area of acoustic propagation. Ken was a great guy to work with and I will truly miss him.
My heart is saddened by the news of Kens passing – peace be with all that knew him. I have a number of fond memories with Ken – I remember one night at a campfire in a remote area of New Mexico where we watch a field biologist eat a squirrel. We simply sat, stared and smiled. Nothing to be said – just a shared moment. He pulled me aside more than once over the years to provide simple one sentence guidance – that I certainly needed – things that I have carried to this day. The world will be a louder place without him.
The news of Kens passing is a great sorrow to all of us at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. He visited us in 2008 and gave an excellent lecture about sonic boom. He left a heritage of achievements that will be long remembered around the globe.
I remember Ken fondly, he was combative about the science, and sometimes too guarded about the knowledge, I remember a huge argument we what about the proper notation to write log base e, but, that the way it goes sometimes. Often our afternoon work conversations (after 6pm workday), would run to his tap dancing, either the demonstrated lessons, or a routine he was preparing for a show. And our afternoon conversations about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am sorry I missed saying goodbye.