Dr. James Johnson Duderstadt

My first memory of Jim is one that I will never forget. Jim had just become the new dean and I was an assistant professor of Chemical Engineering in my third year. One day I got a call from the dean's secretary telling me that the dean wanted to meet me. I was worried: what did the dean wanted to meet a new assistant professor for?I had never personally met the previous dean , Ragone, in my two plus years at Michigan. So I went to meet Jim one fall afternoon with some apprehension. When we...

I took every class I could with Jim Duderstadt (his course on the Past, Present, and Future of U-M changed my life, inspiring my graduate work). He was the best teacher I ever had. Here's a tribute I wrote on him:

Our Real Michigan Men: James Earl Jones and Jim Duderstadt
https://medium.com/leadership-culture/our-real-michigan-men-james-earl-jones-and-jim-duderstadt-deb1b6205955

As an undergraduate in the 80s, I so appreciated that he gave students so much support for activities like starting the engineering graduation ceremony, and his support of women engineering students. Personally, he encouraged me to get my PhD and return to UM. I never imagined at the time I would do that, but now, after a 30+ year career at UM, I am forever grateful for his encouragement. He cheered me on at every phase of my career. Anne, you were instrumental to his success, there was no...

Jim was an amazing person. I was in awe of him since the first time I took his class on modern physics. His teaching and writing styles were exemplary. I am now astounded to realize how young he was as he rose through the ranks from Dean of Engineering to University President. He was also a very wonderful human being. As a student I was featured in a Nuclear Engineering Department video as 'Peter Plutonium'. Jim must have found my performance memorable, as very many years later when we would...

Dear Anne, My heartfelt condolences. To me, Jim was larger than life and I cannot believe that he passed away.

For me Jim was a friend, a mentor and an amazing leader. As a second year Assistant professor in Chemical Engineering, I was contacted by Jim's secretary- he was in his first year as the Dean of Engineering- that the Dean wanted to meet me. I was both excited and wondering whether I did something wrong. I met him for the first time in his office. He told me that he was looking at the faculty and thinking about the future of the College and that I was one of the young faculty he had...

Very saddened by Jim's passing. Sincere Condolences to Anne and his daughters. Jim was a very young and even more promising Dean of the U of Michigan's College of Engineering, at 39, and I barely 29, when I joined the College and made his aquaintance. He turned out to be an outstanding Dean, who reformed the College into a true Research Institution, where Meritocracy Ruled. He was able to attract the best junior faculty from all the top Universities of the US and Overseas. With his equally...

My deepest sympathies to the family, and especially to Anne who was in every sense his partner. During his years as president, Dr. Duderstadt was always the smartest person in the room-the most commanding presence.  He was a visionary who took the U-M into the computer-age.  He was also wonderful to work for.  Never in my career have I comfortably and blindly taken instruction to do something without examining the ask.  With Dr. D, you could safely move forward -he always had the big...

I met James Duderstadt when as a CEW intern, I was assigned to the Engineering School. Although I was the lowest on the totem pole, he always treated me as an equal and was fine with me asking questions. He continued being down to earth and assessable even as he moved on, ending up U-M President. In that role he had two major goals, to upgrade the campus infrastructure, which had been ignored for years, and to recruit a more diverse student body, both of which he did.