Longtime Pacific Palisades resident Ralf Hermann Siegemund, a veteran patent attorney who late in life acquired a Ph.D. in art history, died on December 13. He was 81. Born in Berlin on February 29, 1928, Ralf grew up in Germany during the nightmares of World War II, surviving Allied bombings, the Soviet invasion, and an arrest by Soviet soldiers before returning to complete high school at the Wald Oberschule. He was selected for Humboldt University’s first postwar class and studied mathematics, physics and meteorology, often having to climb over rubble to get to his classes. After he graduated with a degree in physics, Ralf’s characteristic drive to be on the leading edge of every kind of technology led him to the field of patent law. He seized an opportunity to pursue patent opportunities in the United States, and earned a degree in patent law at George Washington University Law School in 1961. While at GW, he met and married Joan Lee Winston of Boston, Massachusetts, and they had two children, Karen and Stephan. In 1964, the family moved to Pacific Palisades. During his 40-year career as a patent attorney, Ralf’s frequent travel to Germany to visit clients and his mother gave him the opportunity to share his heritage with his family, bringing them with him on these annual trips. As Ralf neared retirement, he and Joan took a number of Mediterranean cruises that fostered a profound interest in ancient Near Eastern archaeology. They pursued studies at UCLA, and after many years of impassioned study and several more trips to the Middle East, Ralf completed his Ph.D. in 1999 at the age of 71. After the passing of his wife in 2002, Ralf continued to pursue as many wonders of the world as possible, traveling to Yellowstone, the Pacific Northwest, South America, Tahiti and China. He also fulfilled a decades-long dream of flying on the Concorde, and was a passenger on one of its final flights. Ralf enjoyed natural and man-made beauty, music and literature, food and drink, and philosophical discussion. He had an insatiable appetite for all these and for knowledge in general, and pursued them all with boundless zeal. He is survived by his daughter, Karen of Jamestown, Rhode Island; son Stephan (wife Barbara) of Manhattan Beach; and his grandchildren Jacqueline, Anthea, Austin and Isaac. Funeral services were held on December 20 at Gates Kingsley & Gates Moeller Murphy in Santa Monica.
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