Hi Matt,

> is there a way to get osx to remember font settings?  It used to work
> automatically, but now it doesn't.

A half-solution: There's an input box labeled "Startup flags" under Wish
-> Preferences -> Startup..., and you may set

-font-size 16

(or whatever suits you) there. Unfortunately, though expectedly, this
only affects patches created anew. When I open an existing patch or help
file, it is still rendered using the default small font. The same goes
for the main Pd window.

More similar font tips:
https://github.com/pure-data/pure-data/tree/master/font

More startup flags: pd -help

More on startup settings via the GUI:
https://puredata.info/docs/faq/pdsettings

Cheers,
  Albert.