Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Edward B. Buchanan Jr. passed away on January 7, 2009, due to complications from a recent fall. Ed—as he was known to friends and colleagues—was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 12, 1927. He graduated from the University of Detroit High School and Academy in 1945, and promptly enlisted in the US Navy, serving as a Yeoman for one year. He served our country in the Navy a second time, for two years, during the Korean War. He continued his education at the University of Detroit where he earned B.S. (1950), M.S. (1954) and Ph.D. (1959) degrees in Chemistry. After a half-year postdoctoral stint at Iowa State University, he joined the ISU faculty as an instructor in September of 1959. In September of 1960 he joined the faculty of The University of Iowa, Department of Chemistry, and worked his way up to Associate Professor in 1967 and Professor in 1982. Ed is survived by his wife, Mary Louise, whom he married in Iowa City in 1965.

Ed retired from the faculty of the Department of Chemistry in 1995. During his 35 year on the Chemistry faculty he was noted for teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in analytical and general chemistry. He was particularly active in bringing computerization to teaching and research laboratories. In the early 1980s, he and now Emeritus Professor Dwight Tardy assisted numerous groups in utilizing the newly minted IBM PC to automate and control their experiments and collect, analyze and graphically display the results. Because of Ed’s efforts, the Department of Chemistry was among the first units in the university—and indeed in the nation—to adapt to the dawning microcomputer age. Ed also introduced microcomputerization into the undergraduate teaching laboratories. His research exploited the efficiency of microcomputer control of instrumentation designed, among other goals, to determine trace levels of metals and organics, important environmental pollutants, in aqueous solutions.

Ed’s interests exceeded the laboratory and classroom. He was a longtime member of the American Chemical Society and as a proud veteran was a member of VFW Post #17.He was avid in community service as a member of the Johnson County Computer Committee, the Land Use and Water Quality Committee, and as a Trustee of Penn Township. For 14 years he served as an officer of the Iowa Academy of Sciences.

Ed will be missed by his many friends and colleagues for his innovativeness and spirit of service and giving. Perhaps most of all, however, his wry smile will be missed.