Well…practicing due diligence, I completely de-installed all versions of Cubase, and trashed both (32bit and 64bit) app data preference folders so I could start from scratch…I think! 
I re-installed only Cubase 6 64bit, and then updated to 6.0.2…since that is the documented version supported by Waves.
Na da! Still crashes while trying to exit Cubase. Cubase even crashed while trying to update (scan) the VSTplugins folder so I would have access to my Native Instruments Plugins… I don’t think I have ever had to explicitly set the path to the windows VSTplugins folder…don’t know what’s up with that! 
Anyway, I also have Wavelab 7.1.1 (32bit) and that doesn’t crash, and the 32 bit Waves 9 plugins work fine!
I also tried Reaper 4.20 64 bit and the 64 bit Waves plugins work properly here also.
So it is IMHO that this is a software glitch between Waves 9 64bit and Cubase 6.
The only reason I’m ruling out my hardware is because everything was working properly with Waves Version 8, although this may also have something to do with going from 32 to 64 bit and I only have 4 gig of ram.
Unless anyone has any more suggestions or insight on stuff to try…i may just go back to Waves 8 until the next update and try again. Good thing I still have my I-Loc ! 
Thanks for everyone’s help! 
Al