Wayne W. Sukow

Dr. Wayne William Sukow of Lexington, Virginia, died peacefully on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with family keeping vigil. He was 88 years old.

Wayne was born on December 9th, 1936, in Merrill, Wisconsin, to the late William and Sylvia (Buntrock) Sukow. He was the third of six children. He grew up working on the family farm and exploring the woods of rural Wisconsin, competing in track and field, reading the World Book Encyclopedia, and filling his pockets with rocks. His love of learning, family, and the natural world began early, and were through-lines of his life.

He graduated from Merrill High School and the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Physics and Biology. He met Carol Nelson in high school, and they were married after both had finished college. They moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Wayne earned an M.S. in Low-Energy Nuclear Physics at Case Western Reserve University. He returned to UW-RF to teach physics, interspersed with more graduate study and the arrival of children, Catherine and David. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Washington – Pullman in 1973, pleased to have finished “so [his] children would know they had two parents”.

The ensuing years in River Falls were busy ones. Wayne enjoyed rock-hunting for Lake Superior Agates (often with family in tow), chairing the town School Board, and being the driver and cheerleader for the bell choirs that Carol directed, and the kids rang in, at Ezekiel Lutheran Church. These were productive years of teaching and research, during which Wayne also developed an interest in science education. After a visit to San Francisco’s Exploratorium, he founded the UW-RF Exploreum on campus, and established a mobile program to bring interactive science exhibits to area high school teachers. In 1988, Wayne began work at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., as a Program Director in the Division of Elementary, Secondary, & Informal Education. He and Carol moved to Fairfax, Virginia in 1991. A highlight of his time at NSF was his establishment of the “Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic” program.

After retiring in 2004, Wayne and Carol traveled often, exploring Norway, Canada, and New Zealand, visiting family, or attending birding or rockhounding events. Wayne remained active in several rock and mineral clubs, serving as president of the Eastern Federation of Mineralogical and Lapidary Societies, publishing articles on Lake Superior Agates, datolites, copper-replacement agates, and iris agates, and building a fascinating and beautiful collection of specimens. While at home in Fairfax, Wayne and Carol were frequent and gracious hosts of family gatherings. In the last years of their lives, they lived closer to first David’s family and then Catherine’s, giving everyone the gift of more time together.

Wayne leaves his children, Catherine Sukow (Jaap van der Weide) of Lexington, Massachusetts, David Sukow (Gretchen) of Lexington, Virginia, his grandchildren, Sylvia and Isabella van der Weide, and Carl and Ingrid Sukow, his siblings Lois Hintz, Henry Sukow (Barbara), and Gloria Plamann (Dave), and several nieces and nephews and their children. He was preceded in death by his sisters Elida Woller and Marie Merkel. Carol preceded him in death in 2022, and we trust they now rejoice in their reunion.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Wayne’s life at a funeral service on October 11th, 2025, at 11:00 AM at First Lutheran Church, 6 Eddy St., Waltham.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites memorial donations be made to the National Science Teachers Association (https://my.nsta.org/donation/next-generation-science-teachers-fund