Obituaries

Gregory Matthews, of Bedford, MA, died on January 9, 2023, after a long illness. Greg is survived by his wife, Beverley (Bond) Matthews; daughter, Allison Matthews, and her husband, Vinay Eapen; son, David Matthews, and his partner, Zoë Mackay.

Greg was born on July 7, 1957, the only child of Robert and Ruth Matthews, of Orange, New Jersey. Despite the early loss of his mother, family and friends describe Greg’s childhood and teen years as “wonderful” and “magical.” He especially loved summers at his grandparents’ home on the New Jersey shore: captaining his wooden boat, “The Greg”; swimming in the ocean; playing arcade games; and riding the boardwalks’ roller-coasters with his father. The rest of the year, he was a bit of a dare-devil and enjoyed riding go-karts and snowmobiles and piloting sailplanes.

Greg was a graduate of Cortland (NY) High School and Cornell University, earning a B.S. in Biophysics from Cornell University in 1979. He then attended graduate school in Biophysics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

It was at Cornell University, in a freshman-year biology class, that Greg met the love of his life, Beverley. Beverley and Greg were married at the Setauket (NY) Presbyterian Church in 1986 and were best friends for life.

Following their marriage, Bev and Greg lived in Pasadena and then South Pasadena, CA. While Beverley completed graduate studies and a Postdoctoral Fellowship, Greg managed computer systems at the LAC+USC Medical Center. Their daughter, Allison, was born in 1991 and their son, David, in 1993. They moved back east, to Massachusetts, in 1994, where Greg pursued a career in Information Systems Management.

Greg had a true passion for knowledge, a keen intellect, and a wide range of interests. His breadth of knowledge was astonishing. He was always fully present in conversations and could generally talk to anyone about virtually anything, both because of his incredible knowledge in a vast array of subjects and because he came from a perspective of insatiable curiosity. He had an inordinate amount of patience in working with kids of all ages, helping them to better understand the topic at hand, or finding just the right materials and equipment to complete a project. He was unfailingly kind; he often befriended and aided folks from all walks of life that he met in everyday encounters. He was everyone’s shopper, finding the best bang for the buck for anything at any price point. Among his many hobbies and talents, Greg was a gourmet cook; a competitive badminton, tennis, and ping-pong player; an audiophile; a scuba diver and a talented photographer. He was a student of mathematics his entire life and could often be found quietly mulling over complex mathematical mysteries.

Allison and David were the center of Greg’s universe. He was a devoted father, always encouraging them in their diverse interests. He was always ready to exchange ideas about anything and everything, provide arcane but perfect materials and equipment, be a practice partner in a sport or show them how to accomplish many things while leaving the actual doing to them. Greg followed Allison and David’s college and graduate school research with interest, always asking informed questions and encouraging their intellectual curiosity. We’re grateful that Greg could attend Allison’s PhD defense and sad that he will not be at David’s PhD defense this spring.

With Bev’s extended family, the family traveled to Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia, Africa (including Victoria Falls and shoot photos-only safaris), Tahiti, and Spain.

In addition to Beverley, Allison, Vinay, David, and Zoë, Greg is survived by his step-mother Dolores, step-siblings Linda Williams and Bill Parks, sisters-in-law Barbara Williams and Linda Bond, brother-in-law Rick Bond and his wife Chris Bond, his nieces and nephews, cousins, and many, many friends.

A remembrance will be held on March 18 at 1pm at First Parish in Bedford, MA. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Toys for Tots (www.toysfortots.org/donate), Masterworks Chorale (www.masterworkschorale.org/supportus), or go out in the community and perform an act of kindness in his honor.