January 20, 2021

Doerr Institute:
Institute blasts leadership development in higher education (Rice News)

AR Ginn (1939-2021):
On January 7, AR Ginn Jr passed away.  A native Houstonian, he attended Rice on a football scholarship after graduating from Sam Houston High School in January 1958.  He left Rice in 1959 to join Metallic Building Company.  In 1976, he co-founded MBCI which became a leading manufacturer of metal building components and later merged with NCI.  In 2007, he retired from NCI as Chairman and CEO.  Also, he was inducted into the Field Hall of Fame at the National Bird Dog Museum in 2018.  He is survived by, among others, his wife of forty-one years, Ollie.  Click here for the obituary.

Rice History Corner:
Click here for Melissa Kean's latest blog entry entitled "Glee Club, 1954".

January 19, 2021

James Tour:
Flashing plastic ash completes recycling (Rice News)

Wade Craddock Jr (1940-2020):
On December 28, Wade Craddock Jr passed away.  A native Texan, he earned a BS in Physics at Arlington State College and a Master of Science in Space Sciences at Rice in 1967.   He enjoyed a long career in engineering and systems management at NASA in Houston before moving to Las Cruces to work at the Physical Science Laboratory at New Mexico State University.  Also, he was active in the community.  He is survived by, among others, his wife Sandra.  Click here for the Las Cruces Sun News obituary.

January 18, 2021

Rice scientists:
2D compound shows unique versatility (Rice News)

William "Bill" Connor (1931-2021):
On January 4, William “Bill” Connor passed away.  A native Houstonian, he earned a BA from Rice in 1955 and a masters from SMU.  He worked for Tracor, taught architectural acoustics at UT Austin and was an accomplished concert pianist.  Also, he was active in the community and in his church.  He is predeceased by, among others, his wife Mary Elizabeth.  Click here for the Austin American-Statesman obituary.

January 17, 2021

Rice Scientists:
Rice flashes new '2D' materials (Rice News)

Charles B Wilson (1924-2021):
On January 2, Charles B Wilson passed away.  A native Texan, he was popular as the young boy soprano, “Charles Burton”, mascot and live radio featured singer of The Light Crust Doughboys in the late 1930s.  In 1941, he started Rice Architecture, left for military service in WWII and returned to graduate in 1949.  With two classmates, he founded the architectural firm Langwith, Wilson, and King in 1956 from which he retired in 1998.  Also, he was active in the community and in his church.  He is predeceased by, among others, his wife of sixty years Katheryne.  Click here for the Chronicle obituary.

January 12, 2021

Fred Higgs:
Rice model offers help for new hips (Rice News)

Irene Sibaja '91:
'Unorthodox' Road to Wedding (New York Times)

Travis Dyer (1933-2021):
On January 8, Travis Dyer passed away.  A native Texan, he attended Rice (class of 1956) on a football scholarship.  He spent most of his working career with Gibson’s Discount Center and Western Container.  He is predeceased by his first wife Deloris and survived by his second wife Penny (they were married in 1983).  Click here for the obituary.

January 11, 2021

Harris Wood (1937-2021):
On January 4, Harris Wood passed away.  A native Texan, he attended Rice and graduated from the UT Austin with honors.  After military service, he earned a law degree from Georgetown.  He enjoyed a legal career until retirement in 2008.  Also, he was an accomplished French horn player and he overcame alcoholism and helped others do so as well.  Click here for the Washington Post obituary.    

January 10, 2021

Dr Thomas Belote (1938-2020):
On December 6, Dr Thomas Belote passed away.  A native Texan, he earned a BA in Physics (1959) as well as a Masters (1960) and a PhD (1962) in Nuclear Physics from Rice.  After starting his career as a professor at MIT, he was a high school AP physics teacher in Wayland MA for twenty-five years.  Also, he was active in his church.  Click here for the Boston Globe obituary.