Abby Eden remembers her father, Murray Eden, always singing around the house when she was young. He sang until he was about 97 years old, Abby Eden said.
“If he was doing chores or working on the house or taking a shower, he was always singing,†Abby Eden said. “So we grew up singing.â€
Murray Eden, who would have been 100 years old this week, died earlier this month in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
He is survived by his children, Abby Eden of Cherryfield, Maine and Susanna Eden of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Mark D. Eden of Taos, New Mexico, Shirley H. McDaniel of Venice, Florida, and John W. Hartle of Juneau, Alaska, his brother, Dr. Alvin Eden of New York City, and seven grandchildren.
He was a biomedical engineer whose work in pattern recognition contributed to image processing for now widely-used medical equipment like the first MRI systems.
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Murray Eden “worked at the intersection of mathematics, engineering, biology and medicine during the infancy of biomedical engineering,†his family said in an obituary.
He was also a consultant on the team that created the UPC barcode. Murray Eden chose the font for the UPC code, and it was his idea to add numbers to the bottom, a failsafe system in case the code reader was down, his daughter said.
Murray Eden was born in New York in 1920, into a family of Russian Jewish immigrants.He studied at City College of New York and got a masters in chemistry at the University of Washington.
He worked at Princeton during World War II, and with the National Institutes of Health after the war as a biophysicist at the National Cancer Institute and later the National Heart Institute.
Murray Eden was an electrical engineering professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1964 until his retirement in 1979. There, he co-founded the Cognitive Information Processing Group, where he and a group of graduate students did research on pattern recognition, human sensory and image processing, his obituary says.
Throughout his teaching career, he was also a lecturer at Harvard and at American University and a professor at Boston University and Johns Hopkins University.
He consulted on research and development for the director-general of the World Health Organization, spending part of his summers between 1963 and 1992 in Geneva, Switzerland, Abby Eden said.
Murray Eden was an educator at his core, Abby Eden said. He enjoyed teaching his daughters about the way things worked, and would explain things using child-friendly language so they would understand processes like metabolism, she said.
Music was a big part of Murray Eden’s life, his daughter said. He met his first wife, Sara Baker, Abby Eden’s mother, at the University of Maryland, where they were members of the same choir.
The Edens would also visit their property in Cherryfield, Maine almost every summer. After his second wife died, Murray Eden was invited to join a church choir in Cherryfield, Abby Eden said. He was a guest singer with the choir every summer from around 2013 to 2017, Abby Eden said.
Murray Eden spent the last 10 years of his life in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and joined the University Community Chorus at the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. He was the oldest member of the choir, which has more than 100 members.
“He sang with them until really he couldn’t see the music anymore. His eyes couldn’t focus on the music anymore and he couldn’t hear the conductor’s instructions anymore because his ears had gotten so bad,†Abby Eden said. “But he loved singing and he told me, really, that last year he essentially made it up as he sang along.â€
Photos: Back-to-school in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ during the pandemic
"Mustang Stampede"

Maddy Jacobs, 7, middle, reaches for her remote learning tool kit from her teacher, Kris Green, as her friend, Carly Kupinski, 6, watches during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary

Augusta Iranzi, center, attends his teachers online class while monitors Jasmine Phillip, left, and Nadifo Yusuf, watch students inside a classroom at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
"Mustang Stampede"

Lily Baser, 8, identifies herself for easy remote learning tool kit pickup during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

Krista Westmoreland, left, a third grade teacher, shows the remote learning tool kit of a student to Anna Ames, music teacher, during the "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

Maya Brown, 9, rides in style for her remote learning tool kit pickup during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

Multiage teachers Kris Green left, and April Pollow greet and cheer on their students during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

Maddy Jacobs, 7, left, waves to her teacher as she stands in the sunroof with her friend, Carly Kupinski, 6, during a "Mustang Stampede" to pickup their remote learning tool kit at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

For the first day of school teachers at Manzanita Elementary School greeted their students during a "Mustang Stampede" and handed out remote learning tool kits on August 17, 2020.Â
"Mustang Stampede"

Kim Boling, principal at Manzanita Elementary School, greets her students and parents with a mustang during the "Mustang Stampede" for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.Â
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary

Yarani Martinez gives a monitor a thumbs up to inform the monitor that his online class is working after classes began at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary

Alice Flores, right, watches as her grandson Jesus Silva is escorted to the cafeteria before classes began at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary

Augusta Iranzi follows the directions on the floor while being escorted to a classroom at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.