Conway Barbour Leovy

1933 - 2011

Conway Barbour Leovy, a meteorologist and University of Washington professor who advanced knowledge of the planet Mars and of Earth's atmosphere, died July 9, 2011 at his Seattle home of colon cancer. He was 77. Leovy was born July 16, 1933 in Hermosa Beach, California to James G. and Katherine Leovy and attended Redondo Union High School. He earned a degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Southern California in 1954, served four years in the U.S. Air Force, and obtained a PhD in meteorology at MIT in 1963. He was a research meteorologist at Rand Corp. in Santa Monica, CA. and in 1968 joined the atmospheric science faculty at UW, where he taught for more than three decades. He earned a number of scientific honors including the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal and the Kuiper Prize of the American Astronomical Society. His was kind, generous and curious to the end. His character was distinguished by boundless enthusiasm for the endeavors of others and passion for new ideas. He was preceded in death by his wife of 47 years, Janet Leovy, and is survived by his second wife, Carolyn Moloney, and the four children of his first marriage: Joanne Leovy of Las Vegas, NV., Steven Leovy of Boulder, CO., Jill Leovy of Los Angeles, and Suzanne Migchelbrink of Lake Oswego, OR.; seven grandchildren; and brother, James Leovy of Medford, OR. He will be dearly missed by his many friends and former students, and by Carolyn Moloney's family, including her four grandchildren. Services will be 11 a.m. August 13, 2011 at Woodland Presbyterian Church in Seattle. Charitable contributions may be sent to the Conway and Janet Leovy Endowed Graduate Support Fund at the University of Washington, the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund, or Friends of Heybrook Ridge. Please sign the guest book at www.dailybreeze.com/obits.