Richard M. Shupak, retired software development engineer at Microsoft, world traveler, and fervent foodie, has died at 60

Richard M. Shupak, 60, formerly of Dresher, retired innovative research software development engineer at Microsoft Corp., world traveler, and fervent foodie, died Sunday, Sept. 17, of injuries after an accident while vacationing in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

Hailed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and other executives as one the company’s most prolific software engineers from 1988 to 2012, Mr. Shupak helped develop the revolutionary QuickBASIC computer programming language and other tools that optimized computer code and related software. His skills were so extraordinary, his family said in a tribute, “that Bill Gates once described him as the ‘special sauce’ of Microsoft.”

Mr. Shupak was an expert programming troubleshooter, and Microsoft was awarded several patents on his inventions, including one in 2011 called “Safe and Efficient Allocation of Memory” that, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, “inhibits malware from identifying the location of the executable image.”

In a profile he wrote in 2000 for Microsoft’s book Inside Out, Mr. Shupak said he earned an interview with the technology giant after sending “so many” suggestions on how to improve the OS/2 operating system he had purchased. Over the years, he became one of the company’s top quality-control engineers and problem-solvers, and said: “What’s important to me isn’t being the first guy to think of something. It’s more the charge I get from figuring it out in the first place. My ideas come mostly in response to a problem.”

He worked on MS-DOS, Visual Basic, and other programming language at Microsoft and, ever the prankster, would sometimes insert his initials into a code when two of the bytes could be anything. Not all of his colleagues appreciated his ability to uncover bugs in their work, he said, but they usually changed their attitudes when it “came back to haunt us” after they ignored him.

“Making a nuisance of myself is not officially part of my job description,” he said. “It’s more like a hobby.”

Earlier, Mr. Shupak worked at Sperry Corp. and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He became a world traveler and enthusiastic foodie after retiring from Microsoft in 2012.

He visited at least 90 countries, often with family and friends, and made it a point to immerse himself in the culture, language, and cuisine of wherever he went. “His untraditional goodness and his passion for excellent food and travel will outlive him in the many people he met all over the world,” a friend said in an online tribute.

He researched the world’s top-rated restaurants, sought their prime reservations, and often planned his travel schedule around their availability. “He left behind his personality and wit that tour guides, merchants, and restaurateurs could not easily forget,” a friend said.

Richard Mark Shupak was born Oct. 25, 1962, in Philadelphia. He lived in Mount Airy and Dresher, graduated from Germantown Academy in 1980 with a near-perfect score in the SAT, and was a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. He worked for years as a young man at Martin’s Aquarium in Jenkintown and graduated from Penn in 1984. He moved to Kirkland, Wash., after joining Microsoft.

His family founded the prominent Shupak Pickle Products Co. in the early 1900s, and he was so interested in their genealogy that he traced their roots back to their arrival in the United States from Russia and elsewhere.

Mr. Shupak was generous, adventurous, and curious. He valued education and helped family and friends afford tuition and other expenses associated with self-improvement. “Richard was a unique and kind man who showed generosity in other people’s times of need without fail,” a friend said.

He conceded he was a procrastinator when it came to responding to company e-mails at Microsoft but remained so interested in computer programming that he felt obligated to alert other companies with which he interacted later when he noticed vulnerabilities in their software systems.

He liked to play pranks on his siblings when he was young, and he doted on his cats, Prince and Princess. “He would do anything for anybody in his life,” said his sister Ellen. “He was one of a kind.”

In addition to his sister, Mr. Shupak is survived by his mother, Phyllis; a brother; and other relatives.

Services were Tuesday, Sept. 26.

Donations in his name may be made to Mexico’s Mount Sinai Alliance Benevolent Society.