Roll Call Tribute

Raymond Russell "Ray" Nydegger 

October 18, 1939 - July 14, 2026 

Raymond Russell Nydegger was born October 18, 1939 in Houston, Texas and passed away July 14, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from Bellaire High School in 1957, Ray enrolled at the A&M College of Texas, where he lived in Walton Hall and was one of the few non-regs in the Class of 1961. After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Physics, Ray moved to San Antonio to conduct research at Southwest Research Institute. He then moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and completed his Ph.D. in Radiation Biophysics at the University of Kansas in 1969, culminating with a dissertation entitled “A Study of Cobalt-60 Gamma Radiation Transport By Means of The Monte Carlo Method”.

After completing his postdoctoral training at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to open a new cancer center. In the mid-1970s, he moved to San Antonio, where he was one of the first two employees of CTRC, now known as the Mays Cancer Center. His career in radiation physics ended in 1997 at the Baptist Cancer Center in downtown San Antonio, where his daughter, Katherine, fondly remembers tagging along with him to work in his blue 1984 Ford Crown Victoria station wagon and solving math puzzles on the floor of his large office as he meticulously planned the radiation treatments for his patients.

Never an idle man, he was devoted to numerous causes, most importantly the Boy Scouts of America, in which he served as an Assistant Scoutmaster for many years throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Though his accomplishments were numerous, none was as important as his role as a father. Much to the chagrin of some, his daughter, Katherine, turned out to be a carbon copy of her father in personality, intellect, and appearance, and the two were best friends for 35 years. Together they took numerous road trips over the years and among their favorite destinations were Santa Fe, New Mexico; Estes Park, Colorado; Branson, Missouri; and anywhere else with towering trees, majestic mountains, or a local Applebee’s. They shared a love of music, especially John Denver, Neil Diamond, Yanni, and Simon and Garfunkel. One of Katherine’s favorite memories of childhood was being “dragged” to Colonial Williamsburg, the Smithsonian, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s office as an adolescent on a road trip in 2003. Ray approached life with an insatiable curiosity and a lifelong love of learning, which he imparted to Katherine.

He was preceded in death by his beloved son, Ryan, and is survived by his beloved daughter, Katherine, who will miss him every day for the rest of her life. Though his body may be gone, the echoes of his voice, his humor, and his passion will live on through her. And while Katherine was his last best friend, Ryan was his first. For 38 years, Ray had to live without Ryan, and finally the day has come that he no longer must. If there’s any comfort to be found in this profound loss, perhaps it is that.

It would be wrong to forget that he also shared his life with many, many beloved dogs through the years, including but not limited to Gretchen, Sugar Baby, Sugarfoot, Misty, Mugsy, Elvis, Snoopy. Poppy, and Buddy.