Kemon Peter Taschioglou passed away peacefully at home on August 31, 2024, just two days shy of his 96th birthday. Born to Greek immigrants Prothomos (Peter) Taschioglou and Despina Tossounoglou, Kemon grew up in a family duplex in Winthrop, where he developed lifelong friends, a love of sailing, and a deep appreciation for the ocean.
Kemon became an Eagle Scout and graduated from Winthrop High School in 1945. He then earned a degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1949 and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1951. While at MIT, he participated in ROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He developed an enduring love of physics and astronomy, which he shared with his family, often visiting the Boston Museum of Science planetarium and stargazing at their home near Mt. Misery.
In 1960, while working in sales at Polaroid, Kemon noticed a fetching intern from upstate New York named Rhoda Kyser. She accompanied him on ski trips and outings with Kemon’s bachelor friend group, “The Lazy 8.” These men and their eventual spouses (some of whom still reside in Lincoln) continued to ski, sail, and hike together along with their children, remaining close friends for the rest of their lives.
Kemon and Rhoda commenced their 63-year partnership on May 27, 1961, and moved from Cambridge to Lincoln in 1963. In 1964, Kemon joined Teradyne, where he managed the company’s marketing services for the next 20 years, advancing the industry’s use of automated testing equipment to boost production.
Kemon was widely known for his ongoing civic commitment to the Town of Lincoln, most notably as a Selectman (1970-1972) and a member of the Conservation Commission (1974-1981). He was instrumental in implementing the town’s long-term development plan. He also helped develop and implement the town’s highly innovative land conservation strategy of purchasing parcels from private landowners for town use. This practice fostered responsible development while preserving ample open space for hiking and sustainable recreation; many other towns have since copied this strategy.
Kemon remained actively engaged in his community well into his 80s. For multiple decades, he and Rhoda were intrepid front-row participants at Lincoln’s Annual Town Meetings. A longtime member of the First Parish in Lincoln, he served as a deacon and both attended and taught Sunday school classes, earning him their lifetime achievement award. Starting at age 75, Kemon served two terms as the Lincoln School Committee representative on the Minuteman Regional High School Committee (from 2003-2006 and again from 2012-2015).
Throughout his life, Kemon held an irrepressible enthusiasm to understand the world around him and was known for engaging friends and strangers with a remarkably inquisitive yet disarming warmth. To feed his insatiable curiosity, he amassed an extensive collection of books on a wide array of subjects, which would have crowded Rhoda out of their living room had Kemon not confined his library to one long floor-to-ceiling wall. Kemon’s persistent pursuit of pluralistic perspectives made him slow to judge and eager to build bridges among multiple, often conflicting, points of view; this eagerness only increased with his age.
Kemon was also excited to travel, adopt trends, and try new adventures. He was among the first in town to get a 10-speed bike to commute daily to work in his suit, rain or shine. A few years later, Kemon and Rhoda bought their daughter a quarterhorse when she was 12, which he happily took over caring for and riding when his daughter left for college.
Kemon was physically vigorous well into his 90s. He would regularly jog, swim, chop wood, canoe on the Sudbury River, and camp in the Appalachians with his family and friends. While riding “his” horse, he injured his back, which required surgery. He subsequently recovered and was able to continue the majority of his former activities, largely because he remained doggedly committed to his rehab exercises.
In addition to his wife Rhoda of Lincoln, Kemon is survived by his daughter Ellen Parsons and her husband John of Belvedere, Calif., and their daughter Dominique; his son Peter Taschioglou of Waltham; Peter’s children, Danielle and Alexander of Portland, Ore.; and his niece Althea Henrickson of Athens, Texas. He was predeceased by his brother Byron J. Taschioglou and nephew Byron Peters.
A celebration of Kemon’s life will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 3 p.m. at the First Parish in Lincoln. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the The Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving natural and historical places for public enjoyment and conservation.
Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. The family invites you to share a favorite memory or to offer other messages or condolences on Kemon’s tribute wall.