Wayne Wilson Lang, Ph.D.

Asheville, NC—Physicist, computer scientist, photographer, long-distance runner, adventurer, story-teller, Wayne Wilson Lang, Ph.D., was born in Tekamah, Nebraska, on January 20, 1936, and died peacefully in his sleep at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community in Asheville, North Carolina, on May 19, 2020.
He was preceded in death by his parents Elizabeth Skinner Lang and Richard Hiram Lang and one brother Russell Clark Lang.
He is mourned by his partner and wife of 60 years, Phyllis Jean Martin Lang; a brother, Charles Richard Lang of Orlando, Florida (wife Roberta); and two sisters, Mary Joan Lang Price of Oakland, Nebraska, and Kathryn Ann Lang of Elgin, Texas (husband Andrew Jacobsen). He is survived by seven nieces and nephews.
He grew up on a farm near Craig, Nebraska, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Distinction in Physics from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Experimental Physics from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He taught Physics and chaired the department at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. He moved to Asheville, NC, in 1979, where he founded and chaired the Computer Science Department at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
He had a Faculty Fellowship appointment with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and worked on the Galileo Jupiter spacecraft. He continued that work over several summers.
He was a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Hewlett Packard Users Group, an NSF Review Panelist, and a member of the NSF Conduit Physics Group.
He retired from UNCA in 2000 as Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and then taught design workshops for programmable chips for Xilinx, a computer hardware company in San Jose, CA.
Wayne and Phyllis traveled extensively, visiting 48 of the 50 states and 52 countries, including Kenya and Australia. His cameras traveled with him and he took great pride in his wild animal photos.
He played baseball and basketball and ran track events in high school. He enjoyed watching sports competitions on TV. Twice, he and Phyllis followed the PGA Golf Tour from San Diego, CA, to Hilton Head, SC. For 25 years, he enjoyed monthly poker games with colleagues from UNCA.
Wayne was a fighter. His training as a long-distance runner gave him the strength and stamina to survive lung cancer and several bouts of pneumonia.
He enjoyed telling stories, especially tales of his growing-up years on a farm, where he milked cows and planted corn. He once said, “On the farm, truths are easy to determine.” He attended a one-room schoolhouse a mile from the home place and worshiped at Alder Grove Church on a hill close to the farm.
Wayne was a member of The Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Asheville-Buncombe County and The Legacy Society of Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community.
His ashes will be interred in the Alder Grove Church cemetery, next to his brother Russell. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. Memorial gifts honoring his love of wildlife photography may be made to the North Carolina Zoological Society, Wayne Lang Memorial for African Exhibits, 4403 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205.
Special thanks to Dr. Joshua Gettinger of MAHEC and all the staff at Deerfield for their good care and for making his last years happy.