Raphael van der Weiden

Raphael (Raphic) van der Weiden passed away on March 10th, 2024, in Houston, Texas. Raphic was born on May 8th, 1958, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He was preceded in death by his beloved Mom, Pimette Buijs, and is survived by his wife Alice and his sons Christiaan and Boudewijn. Raphic grew up in Bussum in The Netherlands, after which he went to Delft University of Technology to graduate in 1983 with a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Theoretical Electromagnetics. He continued his post-graduate studies at Delft University of Technology to attain his Ph.D. in Technical Sciences in 1988. In August of 1988, he started his Shell career by joining Royal Dutch Shell Exploration & Production Company in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, as a Research Scientist, where he also met his wife, Alice. He enjoyed various jobs for Shell in Assen-The Netherlands, Houston-USA, and Bangalore-India, after which he ended his successful Shell career as a General Manager – Quantitative Subsurface Evaluation, Shell Americas Projects and Technology in Houston. He retired from Shell on July 31st, 2021, after working for 33 years for the company he loved. Besides running alongside the Buffalo Bayou, after his retirement Raphic enjoyed doing big projects around the house, like cutting trees, demolishing a 50 ft deck, fixing sprinkler systems, and electrical issues. In his own words: projects with a beginning and an end. When his body, because of the cancer, was too weak to do these manual jobs, he returned to his love for physics, electromagnetics, and mathematics and he spent many hours in his home office coding with Python. His latest excitement was his marvel at how much quicker Python could simplify Greens Function for antennas, compared to when he painstakingly did so by hand. But most of all he enjoyed spending time with his wife Alice and their sons Christiaan and Boudewijn who he loved dearly and who were his pride and joy. Raphic thanked God every day for his family, as they are thankful for every day they had with him. Raphic was known for his big smile, positive energy, integrity, enthusiasm, attention to detail, go-getter attitude, interest in other people, and a huge work ethic. He will be laid to rest during a small private burial ceremony on March 23rd, after which there will be a public Celebration of Raphic’s Life on March 23rd, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, at the Hyatt Regency, 13210 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079.

Raphael van der Weiden

May 8, 1958 - March 10, 2024