Irwin Mark Pikus died on April 6, 2023 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, NH. Irwin was born on April 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first child of Harry Pikus and Ida Kolnik.

Harry's army career took the family to Paris, France, and Hanau, Germany (where Irwin celebrated his bar mitzvah in 1949) in the wake of World War II. For the rest of his life, Irwin recalled the heady delight of being regarded, then an 11-year-old, as a very young member of the liberating American forces in post-war France. Back in the United States, the family moved briefly to Lexington, Kentucky before settling in Philadelphia in 1952. Irwin graduated in the 200th class of Central High School (Philadelphia), which is the second-oldest continuously functioning public high school in the United States. As a senior, he was scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team to be a pitcher for one of their minor league teams. He found the uncertainty of that route unacceptable, preferring instead to go to college. He studied physics undergraduate at Drexel University and then obtained a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania/Temple University. One spring break in graduate school, he vacationed in Miami Beach and somehow ended up as the third wheel on a friend's date with a beautiful young New Yorker, Anita May Tolleris, also on vacation. As she told it, it took Irwin about two hours to take over the date and somehow ditch the school friend. Following a brief engagement, Irwin and Anita married on December 20, 1959.

The young couple settled in Philadelphia, where their son, Harold (Hal) was born in 1964 during the time Irwin worked at General Electric's Space Sciences Lab. A growing interest in the societal and legal issues related to space exploration led Irwin to return to graduate school as a night student at Temple University's Law School. After receiving his J.D. in 1972 and writing several papers on space law, he accepted an invitation to move to the Washington D.C. area and join the State Department's new Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science. At the Bureau, he became the Deputy Director of the Office of Advanced Technology where he oversaw civilian space affairs and assisted in other areas relating to technology and diplomacy, particularly in technology transfer policy. He was a charter member of the Senior Executive Service. Irwin moved to the National Science Foundation where he was the head of strategic planning for the agency and led a division that provided policy analytic support to the Director and the National Science Board. He ended his governmental career working at the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration where he led an office that collected and analyzed information dealing with foreign technology comparable to the advanced technologies whose exports are controlled by the United States. In addition to his work for the State Department and other governmental entities, Irwin taught the subject of space law as adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia, as well as serving as a member of Clinton's Presidential Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Irwin possessed an intellect of tremendous depth and breadth, and constant curiosity about the world around him. He liked and encouraged challenging and deep conversations, but possessed the rare ability to make his conversational partners feel heard and respected, even in disagreement. An independent thinker and without pretense, one of his friends aptly described, he was neither for show nor sale.

He was also a truly exceptional fisherman, although it is up for debate whether he enjoyed more catching the fish or standing in the surf for hours, staring out at the ocean and pondering or discussing any topic. He shared innumerable hours with his son in that pursuit. Since receiving his first camera as a young boy in Paris (a Retina ii), Irwin remained a life-long and passionate photographer with a particular aptitude for nature. From his teenage years until the digital photographic age was in full swing, he maintained a darkroom, developing film and printing his own pictures, another hobby he taught to and shared with his son. Irwin also did the photographic work for "Welcome to Hanover," a book for Kendall at Hanover residents and more recently for the "Geography and History of Hanover" display.

After Anita's death in 2007, Irwin found the second great love of his life, Sallyann Amdur Sack; they married in a joyful ceremony attended by many of their children and grandchildren on October 12, 2008. Irwin and Sallyann (Saba and Gamy to their grandchildren) moved on Kendal in Hanover, NH in 2018, where they lived most of the year, spending their summers on Martha's Vineyard. Until health problems slowed him recently, Irwin remained active in his writing group on Martha's Vineyard, co-teaching three OSHER classes with Sallyann, working on his family's genealogy, co-founding the Upper Valley Jewish Genealogy Society and serving on the Strategic Planning Committee and Residents Council at Kendal. He was the devoted patriarch of his large, blended family and loved following the adventures of his children, grandchildren and brand-new great grandchild.

Irwin is survived by his wife, Sallyann, his brother Ed (Lisa), his son Hal (Kelly) and their children, Lia, Hank and Adele, and Sallyann's children Bob (Lori) Sack, Beth (Dan) Felber and Kathy (Greg) Solomon, grandchildren Benjamin (Laura), Daniel (Sivan), Matthew, Emily (Eli), Adam, Julia, Olivia, Jacob, and great-grandson Max.

A burial service was held at Mount Sharon Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania on Monday April 10 at 2pm. A memorial service will be held at the Roth Center in Hanover, New Hampshire on Sunday April 16 at 12:15pm.