Robert Forrest Tooper Ph.D.

October 8, 1936 - September 2, 2013
After a year-long battle with illness, Robert F. Tooper, Ph.D., passed away from heart problems on September 2nd. Born in Chicago, Bob came to California in 1965, where he did a year of postdoctoral work at Cal Tech before becoming a faculty member at USC in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He also served many years as Director of Advanced Development of USC's computing center.
A theoretical astrophysist, Bob earned his doctorate in physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and published refereed papers in scientific journals with his dissertation chairman from the University of Chicago. Until the last year of his life he continued his long-term scientific project to determine whether massive stars can be stable, and authored an extension of the programming language Pascal to enable the research. He was a member of the American Astronomical Society.
During his growing up years, his family owned and operated "Sunnybrook," a summer resort in northern Wisconsin, which he dearly loved. A true outdoorsman, he was adventurous -- flying by bush pilot to the North Slope of Alaska, among other adventures. He will be remembered for his fun-loving nature, his brilliance, and his generosity. He loved classical music, trains, the north woods, mathematics, cats, wolves, Yosemite, and was devoted to his friends and family.
He is survived by his beloved daughter, Katherine Tooper Black, M.A., J.D., his sister Dorothy Lund, and his long-time partner, Carolyn Heine.