Category: "In memoriam"

The founding member and former chair of the Department of Biology at Harvey Mudd College William K. Purves, passed away April 22 in Costa Mesa with family at his side. Purves was the Stuart Mudd Professor of Biology from 1977 to 1995. He served as chair of the department of computer science from 1985 to 1990 […]

The College mourns the loss of Carl Baumgaertner, clinical professor of engineering emeritus, aerospace systems and electronics expert, and decorated military veteran, who died Aug. 16 at the age of 95. In January 1943, six months out of military high school, where he graduated as a United States Army second lieutenant, Baumgaertner was called to […]

Longtime Harvey Mudd College Professor of Chemistry Mits Kubota passed away Nov. 11. Kubota served on the faculty of the College between 1959 and 2000 and was chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1989 to 1995. An inorganic chemist and beloved professor, Kubota had an impressive professional career that included research fellowships at the […]

Note: This notice was excerpted from the Oct. 20, 2018 Claremont Courier. For the full notice, visit Velma Enriqueta McKelvey: A tireless volunteer, instrumental in Harvey Mudd College founding Velma Enriqueta Vergara McKelvey, a devoted supporter of Harvey Mudd College since its founding, died peacefully at her home on July 13. She was 86 years old. […]

Louise Bell, a devoted supporter of Harvey Mudd College and wife of the late emeritus physics faculty member Graydon Bell, died August 16, 2018. “Louise Bell and her husband, Gray, opened their home and their lives to generations of HMC students and newer faculty members (Since Gray Bell was the founding member of the HMC […]

Philip C. Myhre, Harvey Mudd College professor of chemistry emeritus, passed away at home in Tennessee Aug. 26 following a short illness. Myhre was an important presence at the College, serving from 1960 to 1999. He earned a B.A. in chemistry from Pacific Lutheran College and a PhD at the University of Washington. He was a postdoctoral fellow at […]

Nancy Gamer, a Harvey Mudd College Honorary Alumna and former director of alumni relations, passed away on April 26. She was 80 years old. Gamer arrived at Harvey Mudd in 1977 as a temporary worker and then was hired as alumni secretary. She was promoted into fundraising then to director of alumni relations. At HMC […]

President Maria Klawe shared this message today with the HMC community: Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends, It is with deepest regret that Harvey Mudd College reports the sad news of the death of one of our students. Willie Zuniga, a senior from San Francisco, died on campus on February 2. The initial cause of death […]

The Harvey Mudd College community has rallied together to support each other in mourning engineering student Tristan Witte ’18, 20, a talented athlete, musician and scholar, who passed away in a car accident July 15 along with his friend JJ Adkisson, 20, a graphic design student at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. The […]

The Harvey Mudd College community mourns the passing of Jack Holmes Waggoner, a longtime physics professor and emeritus faculty member at Harvey Mudd College. He died Saturday, July 2. Waggoner was born in 1929 and was a native of Ohio. He completed his B.S. (1949) and PhD at Ohio State University (1957). He taught from […]