LEXINGTON, MA * Lee Ernest Ostrander--a retired biomedical engineer and professor, beloved member of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington, and father of three--died on Wednesday, September 21, at Lahey Hospital in Burlington. He was 83 years old.

Born February, 1939, in Glens Falls, NY, Lee was the son of Chester Ostrander, a school principal, and Sara Reynolds Ostrander, a newspaper reporter and visual artist.

Lee cultivated an interest in both electronics and radio broadcasting at a young age, studied physics at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY; and completed a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Rochester in 1966. After a series of positions at Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) and SC Johnson and Son, Inc., Lee became a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he would work for more than 25 years, retiring to emeritus professor in 2001. Over the course of his career, he taught and supervised dozens of courses in areas such as imaging, instrumentation, design, and engineering labs. He also oversaw more than 60 graduate student projects, including seven doctoral theses. Lee had over 120 publications and two patents. He was a founding fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and served as the president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in 1982.

Endlessly curious, Lee cultivated a wide range of interests and hobbies until the end of his life–including writing a short popular science book on genetics and giving talks and presentations on human population growth, an issue he was passionate about. He was also an accomplished ballroom dancer. In recent years, Lee was an active member of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington.

Survivors include his wife Vicky Guo; his children, Mandy of Lexington, Madeline Ostrander of Seattle, Mark Hamilton Ostrander of Arlington; his granddaughter, Maya of Arlington; and his brother Stephen Ostrander of Poughkeepsie, NY–and their extended families.

Memorial donations may be made in Lee’s name to First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington.

The family is holding a small, private burial.

There will be a larger celebration of Lee’s life in Lexington in the spring of 2023.

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