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Memorial service for Lawrence J. Schaad, longtime chemistry professor, is Nov. 17

Posted 11/11/2009

A Vanderbilt memorial service will be held at 11:45 a.m. in Benton Chapel on Tuesday, Nov. 17, for Lawrence J. Schaad, professor of chemistry, emeritus. He died last week at 79 after a long illness.

“During his more than 40-year career at Vanderbilt, Lawrence Schaad was a generous colleague and devoted mentor to generations of students,” said Andes Hess, professor of chemistry and Schaad’s friend and collaborator. “He made an outstanding and widely recognized impact on the development of theoretical chemistry. “ 

Schaad published more than 150 scientific papers and coauthored a book, Hydrogen Bonding, with Melvin D. Joesten, professor of chemistry, emeritus. After attending Harvard University on a Westinghouse Scholarship, Schaad received his Ph.D. from MIT, and was a postdoctoral fellow with one of the most famous quantum chemists of the 20th century, Charles Coulson at Oxford University.

Schaad, together with his Ph.D. adviser C. G. Swain (MIT), derived the Swain-Schaad equation for the relationship between deuterium and tritium kinetic isotope effects.  The equation is widely cited in textbooks on chemical kinetics. In 1971, at Vanderbilt, Schaad and Hess together published a classic paper on the theory of aromaticity,  which continues to be extensively cited in the literature.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Department of Chemistry at Vanderbilt, in care of Chair Mike Stone, 7330 Stevenson Center, Station B 351822, Nashville, TN, 37235.

Survivors include wife Nancy Schaad and sister, Sister Elizabeth Anne Schaad.

Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu

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