I received some very sad news yesterday, Corwin Hansch, a retired chemistry professor at Pomona College, had passed away after a long bout with pneumonia. I was hired by Pomona in 1985 to “replace” Corwin, and because he was only going into semi-retirement*, I co-taught the organic chemistry laboratory with him for several years. Ultimately, we became research collaborators. Corwin guided my path in many ways. Sometimes by offering direct advice, but usually by being an excellent listener and by working behind the scenes to advance my career (usually in ways that I would only discover later on). There are so many stories to tell about him, but I’ll just say that he was everything a young, inexperienced assistant professor could hope to find: a mentor, a model, a colleague, and a friend. Rest easy, Corwin.
*This meant that he still came to work every day, taught a wonderful undergraduate course in medicinal chemistry that I sat in on (in addition to the lab section of organic chemistry that he also taught), maintained a research lab stocked with permanent research associates and a steady stream of visiting scientists, drove out to UCLA every Saturday to look at journals in their library, and published even more frequently than before since he no longer had full-time teaching/committee responsibilities.
LA Times obituary, May 23, 2011, C&E News obituary, June 6, 2011 (p. 50)
