Simon Richard Kraft
2006
Simon Richard Kraft, 73, a mathematician who later operated an appliance repair business, died Jan. 23 of a heart attack at his home in Montgomery Village.
Dr. Kraft, who was known as Dick, was born in Miami and moved to Washington when he was 10. He was the quarterback of the Roosevelt High School football team and a member of the school's chess team.
He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from George Washington University and in 1960 received a doctorate, also in mathematics, from the University of Maryland. He did two years of postdoctoral research at New York University and also studied at Princeton University.
Dr. Kraft worked in Beersheba, Israel, from 1963 to 1966 before taking a position at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in 1967.
	He was a mathematician at the bureau until about 1981, when he left to operate Alltech Appliances, an appliance-repair business. He repaired refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, stoves and other large appliances. He retired in 1997.
Dr. Kraft lived in Montgomery Village for 34 years.
Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Dr. Joan Federico Kraft of Montgomery Village; two children, Daniel C. Kraft of Montgomery Village and Judith Jody Kraft of Torrance, Calif.; and three grandchildren.