Gale and Kirk were out racing on a Santa Cruz 27 for a beer can Wednesday night at Santa Barbara with some old sailing buddies. It was blowing 20 swells 3 to 4 feet. They were on the second down wind leg and Kirk was trimming the spinnaker on the port side (Starboard tack). His last words were, "I don't feel well." He cleated off the sheet so the kite didn't collapse and then slumped over and was out. Gale was driving, two hands on the tiller. Kinda wind where you just go where the kite takes you. The crew got the kite down and did CPR for about 45 minutes while we waited for harbor patrol / coast guard. He turned blue and was gone, never had a pulse.
Kirk was 59, birthday was on June 22nd. He was overweight and out of shape. History of heart disease in the family. Kirk never took it easy sailing and just over did it. He went out doing what he loved. So perfect it is painful.
We are going to spread his ashes on Sunday on the SB start line, with friends and family at 10 am (remembrance to follow at SBYC). Kirk had so many friends in Santa Barbara, so it is probably going to be a huge party with tons of people. We have a lot of boats lined up for people to go out on while we spread the ashes, but family will be on Maude (Swan 37) that was 2 slips down from the slip where we lived on CHow when Haley and Gus were born.
You guys are all invited if you want, (definitely don't feel like you have to) and we can get you on boats.
Gus Arndt
Ian's words:
Dear Friends,
For those who we and others have not yet managed to tell in person, it is with immense sadness that we convey to you the news that our dear friend and Oxford ATLAS colleague Kirk Arndt died suddenly on Wednesday June 12 while sailing a Wet Wednesday race with dear friends in his home port of Santa Barbara. Kirk was 59.
Kirk was a brilliant leading member of our research group for more than 23 years. He was like family, we loved him and will always love him. Memorial services are today Sunday, June 16 at Santa Barbara Harbor with a sail out in his memory at 1000 PDT and a Celebration to follow at Santa Barbara Yacht Club at noon. A Celebration of Kirk's Life and contributions to science will be held on this side of the ocean at a future date and we will pass on details once they are known.
Kirk joined Oxford in 2014 after an illustrious career in the US where he became known as "the best pair of hands in the silicon business”. He built some remarkable silicon digital cameras for particle physics at UCSB, Purdue and now Oxford including one that glimpsed the Higgs particle for the first time at the LHC at CERN in 2012. These were the Silicon Vertex Detector for the CLEO II.V experiment at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring with UCSB, the CLEO III Silicon Vertex Detector and the CMS Phase 0 and Phase 1 Silicon Forward Pixel Detectors for the CMS experiment at the LHC at CERN with Purdue, and he was currently working on the ATLAS Upgrade Silicon Forward Pixel Detector at Oxford, as well as the Mu3e tracker and detectors for photon science. For over a decade he also played an important role in the design of the 3.2 Gigapixel camera for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope both at Purdue and Oxford.
Kirk was a very highly valued and widely appreciated colleague. He was always ready to help colleagues across the Department and in the CLEO, CMS, LSST and ATLAS collaborations. His positive can do attitude, exacting professional standards, dedication, willingness to nurture younger colleagues and his kindness are an example to us all. It was a privilege to work with Kirk. He will live on in the hearts and minds of all that knew him.
As many of you will know, Kirk was also a lifelong sailor who crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by sailboat, crossed countless bays and lakes as a racer, and cruised with his family and friends. We had the opportunity to sail with Kirk, Gale and their children Gus and Haley and our daughter Francesca on several occasions as the children grew up and later when they became adults, those times were highlights in our lives.
Our thoughts and our love are with Gale, Gus and Haley today and always.
Ian & Daniela
JOURNAL AND COURIER / SANTA BARBARA NEWS PRESS
Kirk Thomas Arndt, an engineer and sailor who contributed to the discovery of the Higgs Boson and crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by sailboat, died Wednesday. He was 59.
He passed away while sailing a Wet Wednesday race with dear friends in his home port of Santa Barbara.
An alumnus of Santa Barbara High School, Kirk attended the University of Hawaii and Santa Barbara City College. He graduated in 1991 from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Physics that developed into an illustrious career.
Working with CLEO and the CMS group, Kirk was a mechanical engineering lead on the Large Hadron Collider, and a contributor to the discovery of the elusive Higgs Boson particle in 2012.
Kirk was a lifelong sailor, spending most of his childhood aboard the family’s 50 ft wooden ketch, the Mareve. In addition to the world’s two largest oceans, he crossed countless bays and lakes as a racer, and he cruised with his family.
He was born June 22nd 1959 to Beverly "Boots" Arndt and the late Don Arndt in Santa Barbara, California.
Kirk is survived by Gale Lockwood, his wife of 28 years, their two children, Gus and Haley, his mother, Boots, and brothers Kevin, Kent and Eric. The family's two dogs are Izzy and Jelly.
Future memorial services are to be planned at Oxford University.
For remembrance and donations please support the :
Santa Barbara Youth Foundation
Purdue Sailing Club, which Kirk coached for between 2009-2012, by going to https://bit.ly/2VzMSCK, select “other,” and fill in “Purdue Sailing Club.”
Haley Arndt
