Edward Myrbeck Dies at 83

Former Harvard researcher Edward R. Myrbeck died Monday of heart disease at Quincy Hospital. He was 83.

Born in Stockholm, Myrbeck immigrated to the United States as a child.

In the years before World War II, Myrbeck worked at Harvard as a research associate in physics and communications engineering helping with the development of sonar and sonic submarine torpedoes.

After the war, Myrbeck worked at Harvard's Gordon McKay Laboratory doing research in electronics and acoustics until his retirement in 1987.

Throughout his lifetime, Myrbeck held a variety of positions including serving as a radio engineer for the Yankee Broadcast Network, an instructor in electronic theory at Boston Teacher's College and amateur radio operator for the radio-telephone station WISM. The station operated out of Myrbeck's home, and contacted over 200 countries worldwide by voice and Morse code.

Myrbeck was also knighted by the King Gustav VI of Sweden for cultivating relations between Sweden and the United States.

Myrbeck was a member of the Stankil Lodge of the Independent Order of Vikings in Braintree, Mass. He was a founder of the Viking Club in Braintree which opened in 1953.

He served as grand chief of the Independent Order of Vikings from 1963 to 1965. The Viking group held a service in Myrbeck's honor last night.

Myrbeck is survived by his wife Gertrude E.; a daughter Sylvia F. Barr; a son, Edward R., Jr., a sister, Marion Hittson; and four grandchildren.