Edward Frederick Thode Dr.

Dr. Edward Frederick Thode, professor emeritus of chemical engineering and management at NMSU, passed away March 25. Dr. Thode was born to Lt. Colonel E. Frederick Thode, MD and Kathleen (McGowan) Thode on May 31, 1921 in New York. He spent his early years at various Army posts, including Ft. Monmouth, N.J., and Ft. Sam Houston, TX. He attended public schools in San Antonio and Alamo Heights, Texas, and New Rochelle, NY. As a junior in New Rochelle HS and was encouraged by his teachers to follow a scientific career. He graduated 3rd in a class of 803 and won the prize for top student in science and mathematics and tied for the chemistry prize. His family moved to West Medford, MA (a suburb of Boston), where he enrolled as a student at MIT. After receiving BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering, he was employed by Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company as a junior engineer. On May 27, 1944, he married the former Isobel Zoeller. Ed served active duty briefly as a member of the US Coast Guard Temporary Reserve, for which he received the World War II Victory Medal. In 1945, he returned to MIT where he earned an ScD in 1947. That year he entered education as Assistant Professor, and later Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Maine in Orono. In 1954, he took a position as a senior chemical engineer at the 3M research laboratory in St. Paul, MN. In December 1955, Ed transferred to the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) as a research associate. Ed was appointed Professor and Head of Chemical Engineering at NMSU as of 1963. The following year he also began a part time appointment as a visiting staff member at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. In 1974 Ed resigned the department head position and transferred to the Department of Management, College of Business, where he remained until his retirement in 1986. During Ed's career, he was the author of more than 80 research and technical articles, and a member of several professional societies. In the Masonic Fraternity he was a Past Master and one of the organizers of the Las Cruces Scottish Rite. Ed and Isobel enjoyed traveling in the United States and they spent the first ten years of retirement doing so. In the late 1990s, they took up residence at Good Samaritan Village in Las Cruces, where they reestablished old relationships and formed new ones. Ed's partner in life, Isobel, passed away in December of 2007. Ed is survived by his three children: Karen O'Neil (Paul) of Leyden, MA, Stephen (Julie) of Bethlehem, PA, and Jonathan of Long Beach, CA. He is also survived by four grandchildren, Major Kirstin (Thode) Hernandez, MD of Alexandria VA, Megan Isobel Thode and William E. Thode of Nazareth, PA, and Kathleen Claire O'Neil of Leyden, MA, and one great grandchild, April Elise Hernandez of Alexandria. Ed will be remembered for his service to others and devotion to truth and just causes, but most of all, for his life-long love for Isobel. Within the family he has been a model for a life well-lived. While his passing leaves a void, many of our finer traits are a reflection of what he has left behind. A memorial service will be held on April 15, 10 a.m., at St. James Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Isobel Thode Early Childhood Educators Scholarship Fund at the University of Maine, Orono, ME, Good Samaritan Las Cruces Employees Christmas Fund or to Jardin del los Ninos, Las Cruces. PDF Printable Version