Francis Bundy

Family-Placed Obituary

BUNDY, Francis P. Died peacefully in Lebanon, OH Saturday evening February 23, 2008, age 97, in the presence of his daughter, Suzanne, and sister-in-law, Mildred Garling. He is survived by his four children: John F. Bundy, Suzanne B. Moffat, Freda B. Hofland, and David S. Bundy, his sister Anita Cheek, and was predeceased by his beloved wife, Hazel, who died September 2006. According to his wishes, there will be no memorial service, the body will be cremated, and the ashes disposed of in a manner previously directed. Dr. Francis P. Bundy, physicist, gardener, outdoors man, and soaring enthusiast - to name but a few of his interests and accomplishments -was admired for his scientific prowess, his love of soaring, and was unfailingly generous to all those he mentored. Born September 1, 1910 in Columbus Ohio, to Edith Claire [nee] Scott and Lyman Edmund Bundy, married to Hazel Victoria Forwood, 1936, in Springfield Illinois. He attended Lancaster High School, Lancaster Ohio [1927], and graduated from Otterbein College, Westerville Ohio [1931]. After earning his doctorate at Ohio State University [1937], he taught at Ohio University in Athens Ohio, before joining the Harvard Underwater Sound Lab during World War II, where he worked on sonar devices. After the war effort, he joined the General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady NY, January 1946, and there specialized in various fields of physics, mechanics, optics, radiation, heat transfer, and, most notably to the world at large, superpressure physics, where he was a member of the GE team which perfected the process for "Man-Made" diamonds. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society, Sigma Xi, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He published over one hundred scientific papers, and won many awards and much recognition for his various scientific and gliding accomplishments. Most notably, he was recognized in 1987 with the Bridgman Gold Medal of the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology. He has more than 8000 glider flights in his logbook, and was elected to the National Soaring Museum's "Hall of Fame". Francis Bundy will be long remembered with admiration and affection by his children, scientific colleagues, gliding friends and students, and a host of people whose paths he influentially crossed during his wonderfully long, rich, and creative life. Arrangements by Oswald-Hoskins Funeral Home, Lebanon, OH. Online condolences available at www.hoskinsfh.com.