Oliver E. Rodgers

1915 - 2007
Oliver E. Rodgers, mechanical engineer, violin acoustics researcher, and leading figure in the Philadelphia area's Quaker institutions, died of kidney failure in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, on August 29, 2007. He was 91 years old.

Born in 1915, Rodgers grew up in Anaconda, Montana, where his father was chief engineer of the copper smelter. He attended Harvard College during the Depression, making his way through college with scholarship grants and odd jobs and receiving a bachelor's degree in 1936 and a master's degree in 1938 for work on the mechanics of vibrations. He joined the Westinghouse Corporation in Philadelphia as a mechanical engineer in 1939, where he became a part of the small wartime group that developed the first American axial-flow jet engine. Rodgers later worked for the Packard Motor Car and Curtiss-Wright Corporations in Michigan. Returning to the Philadelphia area in 1960, he headed the development of machinery and computerized paper mill technology at Scott Paper Company, where he retired as Director of Technical Development in 1980.

Discovering Quakerism through the Swarthmore Friends Meeting, Rodgers began, with his wife, Dorothy, a lifelong engagement with Quaker institutions and service. He was treasurer of the American Friends Service Committee and a member of its board for over twenty years, with a particular interest in international projects and socially responsible investment. He was a co-founder of the Friends Board Training service, and an active member of the boards of Pendle Hill, the Quaker studies center in suburban Philadelphia; Friends Fiduciary Corporation; and The Hickman in West Chester. As a young man, he had also been treasurer of the Swarthmore Cooperative Store and a member of the Swarthmore Public Library Board. He served on countless committees, investing his time and experience, gently reminding overeager volunteers that "a good volunteer is someone who makes less work for the staff, not more."

Raised in a musical family, Rodgers played the viola all his life with family, friends, and groups. After his retirement in 1980, he became interested in applying his expertise in the mechanics of vibrations to the mysteries of how fine violins produce sound. He applied computer models to violin acoustics, eventually joining the University of Delaware faculty as an adjunct professor and publishing over twenty research papers. He combined his laboratory experiments with hands-on work with violinmakers, helping craftsmen incorporate acoustical science into their work, often finding sophisticated uses for such simple tools as erasers and paper clips. For his combination of theoretical and practical work, Rodgers was awarded the Gold Medal of Lifetime Achievement by the Violin Society of America in 2004.

Oliver Rodgers is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 69 years; three children, Dorothy Bell, Daniel Rodgers, and Elizabeth Allen; and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at Kendal at Longwood in Kennett Square on Saturday, October 6, at 2 PM. Memorial gifts may be sent to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102.