We are sad to report that former faculty member Dr. Edward William Graham (Northwestern State University of Louisiana) passed away on March 25, 2022.
Graham was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, on October 24, 1937, and graduated from Louisiana State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and then spent one year at the Free University of Brussels on a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 1963, he joined the UCLA Chemistry Department, where he received the UCLA Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award in 1968. His research focused mainly on experimental and theoretical studies of reaction kinetics, and he published papers with Donald J. Cram (Nobel Laureate, 1987). In 1971, he moved to Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York, to accept an appointment in Chemical Engineering.
Graham then joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1974 and served in several positions there: Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Physics from 1974-1977; Acting Dean of the College of Science and Technology from 1977-1978; Dean of Graduate Studies and Research from 1978-1979; Dean of the College of Science and Technology from 1979-1983; Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1983-1986; Dean of Instruction from 1986-1987; and Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1987-1996.
During his 36 years at NSU, Graham also developed a means of evaluating teacher performance, volunteered as a committee and board member, and served on educational task forces. He was lauded for his administrative accomplishments, and his teaching, research, and grant funding activities demonstrated his passion for science. He retired in 2010 and was named a Dean Emeritus in 2011, but he returned to the Chemistry and Physics Department to do what he loved – teach.
Professor Charles Knobler, a junior faculty member at the same time as Professor Graham, remembers him as an extraordinarily gifted teacher.
Graham is survived by his second wife Marsha Bella Zulick; daughters Rebecca Graham and Deborah Graham Zaheer (Saqib); his sister, Cecilia Graham Possoit (Johnny); his brother, Stuart Graham (Barbara); his children by marriage, Kristen Zulick Dulin (Brian) and Richard Zulick (Denise); ten grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
By Laura Strom, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.
