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William Byrom Dickens
William Byrom Dickens, emeritus professor, cemetery. A memorial service is being scheduled. Memorial gifts may be made to McKendree Golden Cross, or to a church or charity of one’s choice. They may be sent care of his brother, Wade Dickens, 4500 Post Road, #H-73, Nashville, TN 37205-1500.
Patricia Fossum Waller
Patricia Fossum Waller born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and grew up in Miami. She received B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Miami, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 1959. After practicing and conducting research as a clinical psychologist, she joined the UNC Highway Safety Research Center in 1967. There she served as associate director for driver studies for 20 years and was a faculty member of the UNC School of Public Health.
In 1987, she became the founding director of the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, a center of excellence funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1989, she became director of the Transportation Research Institute at U-M, where she held academic appointments in the schools of Medicine and Public Health, and the Department of Psychology. She retired from U-M in 1999 but continued to be engaged actively in research projects around the world and authored publications until shortly before her death.
Waller believed in the importance of translating scientific knowledge into tangible action. She served on expert committees for the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. She was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee, served on the President’s Council on Spinal Cord Injury, and was a past president of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. She also took her message to the public, speaking frequently before community and professional groups and making appearances in the national news media.
Waller received numerous honors during her career, including the American Psychological Association’s Hildreth Award for Public Service (1993), the Distinguished Career Award from the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section of the American Public Health Association (1994), the Transportation Research Board’s Roy W. Crum Award for Outstanding Achievement in Transportation Research (1995), the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety’s Widmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Knowledge on Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety (1995), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Special Award of Appreciation (1999), and the National Safety Council’s Distinguished Service to Safety Award (2003).
She is survived by her loving family: her husband, Marcus Waller; daughters Anna Waller (Steve Marshall) and Martha Waller; sons Justin Waller (Ann Marie) and Ben Waller (Carrie); and four grandchildren. She leaves behind many research colleagues and former graduate students whose work in transportation safety and public health was influenced profoundly by her vision of a better world through safer, more human-oriented transportation systems.
Waller was known for her infectious enthusiasm, her inquiring mind and her passion for life. She challenged others to think deeply about what was wrong in the world and how best to right it. The depth and vigor of her intellect, and her passionate concern for justice in human society, was an inspiration to all.
A memorial service in celebration of her life will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Community Church of Chapel Hill. Her family asks that, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to U-M’s Patricia F. Waller Scholarship Fund, which supports graduate student research in transportation science. Checks should be made to the University of Michigan and sent to: The Patricia F. Waller Scholarship Fund, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, 2901 Baxter Road, Room 154, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2150.
Maurice ("Maury") Sinnott
Maurice ("Maury") Sinnott, professor emeritus of chemical and metallurgical engineering, born in 1916 in Detroit, where his father, an Irish immigrant, was a police lieutenant. Sinnott was awarded all of his degrees from U-M: B.S. (chemical engineering, 1938), M.S. (chemical engineering, 1941) and Sc.D. (metallurgical engineering, 1946). From 1938 until his return in 1940 for U-M graduate work, he was a plant metallurgist at the Great Lakes Steel Corp. of Detroit.
Sinnott began his teaching career at U-M in 1944 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. He was promoted to associate professor in 1948 and to professor in 1954. He was chairman for many years of both his departmental Doctoral Standards Committee and the Chairman's Advisory Committee. From 1972-81 he was associate dean for administration and research at the College of Engineering.
Sinnott's research interests included physical metallurgy, surface phenomena and solid-state physics. He published two textbooks and 40 other articles in the areas of materials and physical metallurgy; his 1958 text, "The Solid State for Engineers," was the first such textbook in the country, and it also appeared in French, German and Japanese editions. He introduced solid-state physics into undergraduate engineering courses, teaching nuclear materials and physical metallurgy, and was the first to incorporate computer methods into undergraduate metallurgical courses.
During a 1969-71 University leave, Sinnott served first as director of the Materials Research Office of the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and then as deputy director of DARPA. He continued that professional affiliation, even after his official retirement from U-M in 1984. He held a University appointment until 1993, during which time he was director of DARPA's Materials Research Council, conducting research on campus during the academic year and organizing a month-long council conference each summer. The council consisted of eminent materials scientists, chemists, engineers and physicists (including a few Nobel Prize winners), who, in their advisory roles, had a major impact on the direction and federal funding of research in structural and electronic materials, components and systems.
Sinnott received the U-M Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (1969) and the American Society for Metals Bradley Houghton Award for Outstanding Teaching (1954). He also was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal (1972) by U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird for outstanding contributions in engineering and management, including the development of ceramics in gas turbines.
Sinnott was a member of the American Society of Metals, the American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers, the American Society of Testing and Materials, and the American Society of Engineering Education. He is survived by his wife, Mary, five children and 11 grandchildren.
Vera Bolgar
Vera Bolgar, longtime research associate and colleague of comparative law pioneer Hessel Yntema, born Dec. 12, 1913, in Budapest, Hungary. She died during World War II.
In 1948, Vera Bolgar became the first woman to receive a doctorate of law and political science from the University of Budapest. She fled communist Hungary on foot the next year and emigrated to the United States, where she became a citizen in 1955.
She worked briefly as a research associate at the University of Chicago Law School, then moved to Ann Arbor. Her association with the American Journal of Comparative Law began with Yntema and continued with Editors-in-Chief B.J. George and Al Conard, both Law School professors.
Bolgar was fluent in four languages and could read three others. She published articles, book reviews, and translations on comparative law from 1952-2000 in journals here and in Europe. She also undertook a substantial translation on comparative tort law for the Max Planck Institute of Foreign and Private International Law in Germany.
A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 15 in the Lawyer's Club at the Law School. Memorial contributions may be made to the Michigan Law School Fund, Hutchins Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215.
Said Ginsburg: "I count it my good fortune to have known her as teacher, traveling companion and friend."
William Leslie
William Leslie, professor emeritus in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, born in Lorain, Ohio, in 1920. He served in World War II in the U.S. Army. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in metallurgical engineering from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1947, 1948 and 1949, respectively. From 1947-73 he worked for the U.S. Steel Laboratories, except for a brief period in 1953 when he worked for Thompson Products. From 1963-73 he was manager of physical metallurgy research at the Bain laboratories of U.S. Steel. In 1952-53 he was an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Polytechnic University, and in 1964-65 he was a visiting professor at OSU.
In 1973 he joined the faculty of the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at U-M, where he served until his retirement in 1984.
He authored nearly 100 publications, including a book, "The Physical Metallurgy of Steels," published by McGraw-Hill in 1981. Leslie held four U.S. patents. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, American Institute for Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineering (AIME), the American Society for Metals (ASM), The Metals Society of Great Britain, the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, the Metal Science Club of New York, and the American Society for Engineering Education.
Leslie served as chairman of the Publications Committee of ASM in 1966-67, chairman of the Second International Conference on the Strength of Metals and Alloys (ICSMA), co-director of the Metallurgical Society of AIME in 1970-71, chairman of the Joint Commission for Metallurgical Transactions in 1972, U.S. representative to the International Steering Committee ICSMA in 1967-82, member of the Metals Science Division Council of ASM in 1970-75, and vice president and director, AIME in 1975.
His awards included honorary member, Alpha Sigma Mu, 1965; Krumb Lecturer, AIME, 1967; distinguished alumnus, OSU College of Engineering, 1967; fellow, ASM, 1970; The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society fellow, 1991; and the Charles S. Barrett Silver Medal winner of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of ASM, 1992. He was the Edward DeMille Campbell Lecturer, ASM, 1975; Albert Sauveur Lecturer, Philadelphia chapter of ASM, 1971; Zay Jeffries Lecturer, Cleveland chapter of ASM, 1975; Garofalo Lecturer, Northwestern University, 1977; and Henry Marion Howe Lecturer, AIME, 1982. He served on numerous committees of the U.S. Government and as a consultant to numerous corporations.
After his retirement, he and his wife Florence moved to Palmyra, Va., where he died. His wit surely will be missed. He was a friendly and helpful colleague. He is survived by his wife Florence and his daughter Barbara.
