Bill Steele

Bill Steele Bill Steele was born in St. Louis, Mo. in 1930, and was the eldest of two boys, the younger was Bob. He grew up in St. Louis and played football (offensive line) and excelled at billiards. Despite missing a school year due to illness, he graduated with his high school class. He attended Wesleyan University on a full scholarship, where he received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry under the supervision of George Halsey at the University of Washington in 1954. He devoted his free time to sailing, climbing, and skiing. In 1954, Bill took a position in the Chemistry Department at Penn State. He married Lotte Margulies and they had two children, Brian and Sarah. They lived in State College and it was there that Bill and his family established many friendships in the community. Bill was a loving and supportive husband and father and spent time skiing with the family, was an avid tennis and squash player, and visited many national parks with the family. Later, while on sabbatical in Belgium and England, the family traveled extensively to enjoy the cultural sites as well as punting on the Thames, hillwalking in Wales, and skiing in the Alps. Both children followed their father and mother into teaching careers. Lotte died of cancer in 1987. In 1989, Bill married Grace Whitfield, a widow with three children whose husband had also died of cancer. After retiring in 2002, Bill and Grace enjoyed many years of travel together, visiting their colleagues in other countries, enjoying music and opera wherever they were. They had many adventures including canoeing the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean, kayaking Scoresbysund fjord and climbing to the ice cap in eastern Greenland, and trekking to reach the lower slopes of K2 on the Chinese side. He shared his love of the outdoors with his children and grandchildren during many hiking and camping trips. In his later years, Bill suffered from Alzheimer's/dementia and Bill and Grace resided at Foxdale Village in State College. Throughout these years they spent much quality time together, including frequent walks on the local Lower Trail. During his 45 years at Penn State, Bill established himself as a leader in the study of adsorption of gases on solid surfaces and the properties of bulk fluids. He supervised numerous Ph.D. students and hosted many visiting scientists from around the world. He published more than 260 articles on the physical interaction of gases and related subjects. His seminal monograph, "The interaction of gases with solid surfaces," was published as Volume 3 of the International Encyclopedia of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics. It has long been viewed as setting the foundations for researchers in this field. Within the chemistry and physics communities, there tends to be a division between experimentalists and theorists. Quite remarkably, Bill was both an experimentalist and theorist. In addition, he was among the first chemists to undertake a third approach, computer simulations, to describe the surface films that he and others were studying with more traditional methods. These simulations led to much more information than could otherwise be obtained and which could be compared with experiments to refine our fundamental understanding of the problems. Bill received several Fulbright scholarships and a Humboldt stipendium to support his research. He received three honorary Ph.D.s in recognition of his accomplishments. He served as an associate editor for the Journal of Physical Chemistry and was the first Editor-in-Chief of Langmuir from 1990-1997, a journal devoted to research in the area of surfaces and colloids. Bill leaves behind an international community of researchers and former students and post-docs who revered him, including many from Argentina, Australia, England, Germany, Japan, India, Poland, and Russia. Many were drawn to work with him because of his scientific brilliance and insight. He was admired for his dedication to new knowledge, his gentlemanly demeanor, his warmth, quiet sense of humor, and most of all, his generosity. These characteristics, of course, manifested themselves in his relationships with friends, family, and everyone he encountered. Bill is survived by his wife, Grace; his sister- in-law, Ingrid; his children, Brian (Swarna) and Sarah (Steve); niece and nephew, Linda Anish and Steve Robbins; as well as Grace's children, Ann (Tom), John (Muneko) and Susan (John); and grandchildren, Trevor, Danielle, Patrick, George, Rohan, Zachary, Christina, and Isabella. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Burt and Margaret; first wife, Lotte; and his brother, Bob. Bill was a kind and caring husband and father, patient and respectful of others. He will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation in William (Bill) Arthur Steele's memory to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Ave., 7th floor, New York, NY 10001 or online at www.alzfdn.org. Gifts will be restricted to scientific research. A memorial celebration of Bill's life will be held this summer on June 17 at Foxdale Village in State College at 2 p.m.