Photo credit: Alicia Garcia Monedero
“When I was a little girl, my father was an upwardly mobile business executive; our family moved around the country as his career advanced. The one constant in my life was The Wall Street Journal. I would read it from cover-to-cover, enthralled by the news of new companies, mergers and acquisitions, failures—whatever the big news of the days was. However, one of my favorite sections was the obituaries, typically scions of industry and academia who had achieved great things. Their stories fascinated me. To this day, I love reading the obituaries of celebrated individuals and the paths they took to professional heights. In Dearly Departed, I share my favorites. Check back often as I’m always wishing “Godspeed” to those who inspire me. I hope they inspire you, too.”
Laura B. Cardinal, Ph.D., SmartState® Endowed Chair and Director, Center for Innovation + Commercialization
George E. Johnson 1927 – 2026 October 29, 2026 Growing up, I’ll never forget rise of Soul Train and its influence of syndicated music-oriented television programming. The popular American music… (continued)
Maura L. Gillison 1965 – 2026 August 12, 2026 I wish I could sit across from Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, and ask her what it felt like to pursue… (continued)
Gladys West 1930 – 2026 March 18, 2026 Long before the days of Siri and Google Maps instructing us to “head West,” there was Dr. Gladys West, a pivotal trailblazing… (continued)
Louis Gerstner 1942 – 2025 February 10, 2026 By the early 1990s, IBM had become a paradox of the most respected names in technology and yet dangerously close to irrelevance.… (continued)
Jane Goodall 1934-2025 January 7, 2026 When I learned of Jane Goodall’s passing, I found myself pausing, not out of surprise, but out of reverence. Some lives feel so expansive… (continued)
Anne Merriman 1935-2025 December 15, 2025 As the introduction to the Dearly Departed series reads, my father played a huge role in my life. I’ll never forget how he would… (continued)
Marina Whitman 1935-2025 December 8, 2025 In my everyday life as a professor of innovation and business strategy, I find myself in constant discussion with my students about what defines… (continued)
Richard K. Bernstein 1934-2025 December 2, 2025 As I stood waiting in line at the seafood counter at the market, I found myself staring into the glass case, filled with… (continued)
Charlotte “Betty” Webb 1924-2025 November 17, 2025 I recently learned of Charlotte Elizabeth “Betty” Webb’s passing. I had no idea how impactful and extraordinary her life was until I read… (continued)
Eleanor Maguire 1970-2025 November 7, 2025 Anyone who knows me, knows I love my MINI Cooper, which was originally developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. Though I’m… (continued)
Hal Sperlich 1929-2025 January 20, 2025 In reading the recent Wall Street Journal obituaries, I found myself reflecting back to my beloved childhood. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s,… (continued)
William Anders’s iconic “Earthrise” photo did not just capture an image—it changed the way humanity views itself. As one of the astronauts who first saw the Earth from space, Anders… (continued)
Edward C. Stone’s (known as Ed) leadership of the Voyager missions remains one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in scientific history and his claim to fame. As the director of… (continued)
J. Michael Cline’s career stands as a testament to the power of disruption—not for the sake of disruption, but for the creation of lasting value. As the founder of Fandango… (continued)
Jerry McGinnis’s remarkable journey from basement tinkerer to the driving force behind CPAP technology offers a powerful lesson in persistence and innovation. In January 2024, at 89, he passed away,… (continued)
Niklaus Wirth’s legacy in computer science is one of simplicity and profound impact. His creation of Pascal (named after the 17th-century French mathematician) revolutionized programming, making it more accessible and… (continued)
It is hard to imagine where computer applications and publishing would be without John Warnock and his co-founder, Charles Geschke. When I first heard about John Warnock’s passing at 82,… (continued)
True innovation is built on curiosity and persistence—a perspective close to my heart as an academic scholar and tenured professor—and Morris Tanenbaum’s story is a perfect testament to this. Dr.… (continued)
Looking at Robert Kern’s story, there is a true engine of innovation: a relentless drive to turn ideas into impactful realities. Here was a man who not only created generators;… (continued)
When I lived in Louisiana, one of my greatest comfort foods was gumbo. This iconic creole dish was—and still is today—a favorite. From the components of the traditional roux to… (continued)
On clear nights, I often find myself sitting in my backyard, gazing at the sky, and pondering the mysteries of space—a perspective that reminds me of James McDivitt’s pioneering spirit.… (continued)
Reflecting on my journey over the years, I often think of Peter Eckersley, whose impact on digital privacy resonates deeply with me. Much like my commitment to enhancing research applications… (continued)
Helen M. Free 1923 – 2021 August 20, 2021 One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes is, “If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing… (continued)
In 1970, Larry Tesler, reeling from a failed marriage, moved with his young daughter and a group of friends to something like a commune in rural Oregon. It was a… (continued)
For someone who was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002 for his and his colleague’s impact on curbing smog caused by internal combustion engines and protecting… (continued)
My SMTI students will appreciate this Dearly Departed profile since our classes are held on Saturdays, a day traditionally reserved for sleeping in and long, lazy brunches. While I didn’t… (continued)
He was an authority on the Ramsey theory, named after an English mathematician, that suggests that complete disorder is impossible. Over his lifetime, which came to a close July 6,… (continued)
Yee Ching Wong was born in China’s Guangdong province in 1946. Forced to flee to Hong Kong with her family after the communist revolution in China, the young girl began… (continued)
How many people go to their graves without regrets? Without the inside conversation, “I wish I’d done this. I wish I’d done that.” I suspect that when Betsy Ancker-Johnson died… (continued)
One of my favorite movies in 2014 was The Imitation Game based on the role University of Cambridge mathematician Alan Turing played in cracking the Nazi’s secret “Enigma” code during… (continued)
I was flipping through The Wall Street Journal on my smart phone, waiting for the waitress to bring my breakfast. A name caught my eye: Fernando Corbató. The man who had made computing accessible to the masses back in the 1960s while a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had died July 19. He was 93.
Last January, I read that Dr. John Mendelsohn, president emeritus of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center had died at his home in Houston, ironically of brain cancer. He was 82. The world had lost a remarkable individual.