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IN MEMORIAM
GERARD A. ROHLICH
Gerard A. Rohlich, retired professor
of civil engineering and public affairs, died on September 16, 1983.
He was 73.
Professor Rohlich was born on July 8,
1910, in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a bachelor's degree from Cooper
Union School of Engineering in 1934. He received three degrees from
the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a bachelor's in 1936, a master's
in 1937, and a PhD in 1940.
Dr. Rohlich taught at the Carnegie Institute
of Technology. During World War II, he worked with the War Department's
engineering office in Washington, D.C. Following the war, Professor
Rohlich was briefly associated with the ESNA Corporation. In 1946 he
embarked on a long career at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Professor Rohlich was an internationally
known authority on natural ecosystems. His expertise included industrial
wastes, water supply problems, and lake and stream pollution. He carried
out research that resulted in ground-breaking concepts for oil-water
separation, sludge digestion, eutrophication of surface waters, and
activated sludge wastewater treatment. Professor Rohlich helped draft
one of the country's first laws to protect the aquatic environment,
the Wisconsin Water Resources Act.
Professor Rohlich joined The University
of Texas at Austin in 1972 as C. W. Cook Professor of Environmental
Engineering and professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Affairs. He officially retired from the University in 1980, but then
taught one course each semester in civil engineering and public affairs
until 1983.
Professor Rohlich was recognized by
numerous organizations. He was awarded the Gordon Maskew Fair Medal
and the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal from the Water Pollution Control
Federation. He also earned the Fuller Award from the American Water
Works Association and the Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize from the
American Society of Civil Engineers.
Dr. Rohlich was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1970, and he chaired the joint National Academy
of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering Committee on the Potomac
Estuary. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Science Advisory
Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A special tribute, "Gerard A. 'Gerry'
Rohlich, Scholar, Professional Engineer, Gentleman," was published in
April 1999 in Environmental Engineer, a publication of the American
Academy of Environmental Engineers.
Professor Rohlich was survived by his
wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Murphy, and their ten children.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
Biographical sketch prepared by Teresa Palomo Acosta and posted
on the Faculty Council web site on January 18, 2001. Additional
biographical sources can be found in the UT Office of Public Affairs.
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