Roy L. Rike, age 67, of 9 Oak St., Brunswick, died quietly in his sleep at his home on October 19, 2018. Roy was born in Toledo, Ohio, on February 4, 1951, to Elmer Roy Rike and Margaret Isabel Loxley Rike.

He obtained a degree in history from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and the University of Wisconsin. He then went on to Kings College at the University of Cambridge, England where he earned a Ph.D. in classics. Following Cambridge, he spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow in classics at Stanford University before moving to the East Coast.

In 1986 he started working for the state of Maine. In 1988 he began work for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Roy retired from the department in 2016 after 30 years of service to the state of Maine.

Reading, conversation, the classics, and Civil War history were Roy’s passions. He was a devoted member of CrossFit and also enjoyed doing volunteer work for a number of charitable organizations in the Brunswick area and playing baseball with local pick-up teams. Roy participated actively in the Brunswick Society of Friends Meetings. He set his Sunday afternoons aside for translating ancient Greek writings.

Roy applied the knowledge that he gained from his extensive reading and his work at the Department of Environmental Protection to inventing. Following in his father’s footsteps, he held various patents over the years. His latest was for a radio wave modulation detector around which he founded the company Wet Chip. Roy was working with the University of Maine to put his invention to practical use.

Roy is survived by a brother, Thomas G. Rike of National City, California, cousins Alan Jardine of Big Sur, California and Neal Jardine of Sherman Oaks, California.

He will be missed by his family and all of his many friends in Maine state government and the Brunswick community.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 3 at 1:30 p.m. at Stetson’s Funeral Home, 12 Federal St., Brunswick, where condolences may be expressed at stetsonsfuneralhome.com.

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