In Memoriam

Duane Edwin Champion, PhD, passed away suddenly at home in Menlo Park, California, of natural causes on Jan. 11, age 73. His family, friends and colleagues miss him terribly, but even more, they are grateful for the time spent with him. Duane Champion was born on June...

October 9, 1933 – January 9, 2023 Colonel Floyd R. Stuart, USAF (Ret.), died peacefully on January 9, 2023, surrounded by love. A native San Franciscan, Floyd graduated from Saint Ignatius HS in 1951.  Floyd attended City College of San Francisco prior to graduating...

Jack Rocchio, BS ‘55 Ph-–Decorated Aviator, Sailor, Linguist, and Adventurer–-Dies in Mallorca at 89 Jack Wilbur Rocchio, a retired captain at Pan American World Airways and then at Delta Air Lines, died of cancer on December 16 at his winter home on the Spanish...

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Phillip Helman passed away peacefully on the 8th of November, 2022 in South Bend, IN. He was born November 2, 1936 in Grand Junction, Colorado, the son of John Phillip and Claire Goldsmith Helman. He had one sister, Jacqueline Beatrice Campbell who died in 2003....

Donald Guy Furst, 96, born April 8, 1926 to Guy and Erma Furst in Whittier, California.   He went into the arms of Jesus on October 21, 2022.He was a proud, patriotic American who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  He got his Masters Degree in Mechanical...

We are profoundly saddened by the death of Randall B. Griepp MD on September 8, 2022 at the age of 82. He was a greatly beloved husband and father, a highly-esteemed and innovative cardiovascular surgeon, an avid sailor and a skilled craftsman of small wooden boats...

Distinguished Caltech alumnus Juris Hartmanis (PhD ’55), founding chair of Cornell University’s Department of Computer Science, passed away on July 29, 2022. Hartmanis was widely recognized for establishing the field of computational complexity theory. He was 94 years...

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L. Willard (Will) Richards died Sunday at his home in Santa Rosa at the age of 89, with his wife Nancy by his side. He was born July 11, 1932, in Provo, Utah to Ren and Zilla Richards. He grew up in Riverside, CA, was an Eagle Scout, received a BS from Caltech, and...

Arsine Victoria Avakian, my wife, died in May, three months before her 81st birthday. Vicki was one of those exceptional people who enrich the lives ofeveryone they know. Vicki and I married at the end of summer in 1963, after receiving our SB degrees in physics from...

Donald Hanly Sweet passed away peacefully at age 98 on May 12, 2022 after suffering a stroke, less than three months after the passing of Beth Sweet, his beloved wife of 73 years. Don will be remembered for his kindness, integrity, and intellect, and for being a...

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Charles Richard “Dick” Johnson died peacefully at his home in El Segundo surrounded by his family on March 31, 2022, aged 85 years. Dick was born in Lewiston Idaho to Lillian H. and Charles J. Johnson. His lifelong interests included classical music, cooking and fly...

Distinguished Alumnus Arthur D. (Art) Riggs (PhD '66), a pioneering geneticist, world-renowned expert in diabetes, and dedicated friend of Caltech, died March 23, 2022. He was 82. Graduation Year:[ba_dual_button btn_alignment="center" btn_a_text="Go Back"...

Caltech Distinguished Alumnus Eugene Parker (PhD '51) passed away on March 15 at age 94. Parker was a pioneer in the field of heliophysics, the study of the sun and how it affects Earth, the planets in our solar system, and space beyond. In 1958, Parker correctly...