6 In memoriam: David Kelmer Roe, 1933-2010 David K. Roe, retired Professor of Environmental Sciences and Chemistry, was born Jan. 9, 1933 in Gig Harbor, WA and died July 2, 2010 in Portland. Family members and friends gathered for a memorial service celebrating his life at the Finley-Sunset Hills Mortuary on July 16. Professor Roe prepared for his distinguished career in chemistry by earning a B.A. degree at Pacific Lutheran University in 1954, followed by graduate studies at Washington State University (M.S. 1956) and the University of Illinois (Ph.D. 1959). After holding a yearlong postdoctoral fellowship as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, West Germany, he worked as a research chemist for the Shell Development Company in Emeryville, CA from 1960 to 1962. He launched his academic career in 1962 as an assistant professor of chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1968 he opted to return to the Pacific Northwest, taking an appointment as an associate professor at the Oregon Graduate Center. At that juncture Portland State was expanding its science curriculum and initiating innovative graduate programs. For the 1969-70 school year college officials had devised an interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences and Resources (ESR) doctoral program encompassing several science disciplines. The burgeoning ESR program recruited highly qualified science specialists to serve as core faculty members, which led to Professor Roe’s appointment in 1972 as an associate professor of Environmental Sciences and Resources/Chemistry. He advanced to full professor rank in 1977. Throughout the ensuing years Professor Roe contributed significantly to the ESR program’s development through excellence in teaching and research. Students and faculty colleagues alike highly respected his intellect and achievements. One of his students earned the first chemistry Ph.D. degree awarded through the ESR program. Early on, collaboration with a fellow chemistry department member on fuel cell research generated a Department of Energy grant. Over the years, Professor Roe achieved a record of distinction through ongoing research and publications, all of which added strength to PSU’s stature as a comprehensive university. Major funding agencies supporting his significant scientific investigations included the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and Pacific Northwest Laboratories. He provided professional consulting service for Tektronix and Sunset Laboratories in Oregon and for Alza Incorporated in Palo Alto, CA. Community service activities included vicechairmanship of the citizens review panel for the Portland Bureau of Waterworks in 1980-82. His career featured an important international dimension that denoted an abiding intellectual inquisitiveness. In 1973 and 1975 he held month-long National Academy of Science exchange fellowships in Bulgaria, followed by a Fulbright senior professorial fellowship (1978-79) in West Berlin, and four subsequent summer visiting scientist fellowships at West German institutes between 1979 and 1987. At PSU several international students pursued graduate work under his supervision. Dave actively participated in numerous national and international professional associations. In 1980 he presided over the Oregon section of the Electrochemical Society and during 1975-83 served as divisional editor for the organization’s journal. The American Chemical Society appointed him to serve on several committees. Professor Roe contributed significantly to the institution’s academic mission at a crucial time in its development. All of those faculty members who shared in that undertaking owe him a lasting debt of gratitude. His pleasant personality and charming wit gained a wide circle of friends. In 1956 Dave married Janet Claire Olsen of Eugene and they reared three children: Natalie Ann Roe, of Oakland, CA; Steven Nelson Roe, of San Mateo, CA; and Erik Olsen Roe, of Portland. In addition, survivors include three grandchildren and a sister, Naomi Nothstein, of Mercer Island, WA. To them our organization extends its heartfelt sympathies. --Emeritus Professor of History Victor C. Dahl, with assistance from Emeritus Professors of Chemistry Gary L. Gard and David W. McClure
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