Richard Pirko, show producer and technician for YSU’s Ward Beecher Planetarium in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, died Oct. 15 at the University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center in Chardon. He was 55.

A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25 in the planetarium.

Warren Young, the department’s interim chair, said Pirko suffered an apparent heart attack on Monday, Oct. 6 at a small airport in the Chardon area.

A YSU alumnus, Pirko earned a bachelor’s degree in combined science in 2000. He had been a full–time employee in the Department of Physics and Astronomy for 20 years, but Young said he had worked at the planetarium as a student and contract employee since the mid–1970s.

“We’ll feel the loss everyday,” Young said. “He had a unique combination of talents.”

To make a contribution in Pirko’s memory, contact the Department of Physics and Astronomy at 330–941–3616.