Ronald Stanton Gordon, an ACerS Emeritus Member and Fellow since 1974, passed away on August 31, 2008, in St. Augustine, Florida.
Gordon concluded his career at the same university where he began his professional life: the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he taught during the spring semester 2008 as adjunct professor emeritus, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, all the while undergoing a second protocol of chemotherapy and radiation for metastasized esophageal cancer.
Prior assignments included dean and professor of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Ceramic Engineering and Materials Science, NY State College of Ceramics, Alfred University; professor and head, Materials Science and Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Virginia; director, CIT Center for Advanced Ceramic Materials at Virginia Tech; Director, Utah State Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials, University of Utah; various professorial levels at University of Utah; instructor of Materials Science, University Extension, Massachusetts State Board of Education; and research assistant, Ceramics Division, Department of Metallurgy, MIT, Cambridge Massachusetts, where he received his Sc.D.
Both his B.S. in Chemical Engineering (1959) and his M.S. in Ceramic Engineering (1961) were awarded by the University of California, Berkeley, at which time he was a research and laboratory assistant in the Engineering Materials Laboratory (cement and clay chemistry, analysis and testing), Civil Engineering Department, UC, Berkeley (1956-61).
Gordon was one of the founders of Ceramatec, Inc. in Salt Lake City, and also had industrial experience at General Electric, Nela Park, in Cleveland Ohio.
His patents, invited lectures and publications were numerous. His most recent work will be published posthumously by John Wiley & Sons. As co-author with Anil Virkar and Wilfried Fischer, he was also close to finishing a book tentatively titled, “Electrochemical Ceramics Technology: Energy Storage, Power Generation, Chemical Processing and Sensing.”
In addition to The American Ceramic Society, Gordon also was a member of The American Society for Engineering Education; Ceramic Educational Council; Electrochemical Society; Materials Research Society and National Institute of Ceramic Engineers.