Steven Lawrence Detweiler

DETWEILER,
STEVEN LAWRENCE, 68
Gainesville - Steven Lawrence Detweiler, age 68, Professor of Physics at the University of Florida died suddenly on February 8, 2016 during his morning run on the University of Florida campus. Born in Yonkers, New York he is the son of the late Joseph Hall Detweiler and Catherine Lawrence Detweiler. Professor Detweiler received his undergraduate education at Princeton University and his doctorate in Theoretical Physics at the University of Chicago. Following postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Maryland and the California Institute of Technology, he joined the faculty of Yale University attaining the position of Associate Professor before joining the University of Florida's Astrophysics group in 1982 where he spent the next 34 years. He was widely published in the areas of gravitation and Black Holes credited with over a hundred scholarly articles. He was greatly pleased at the anticipated announcement of the detection of gravitational waves, a validation of his life's work. Professor Detweiler intended to retire in May of this year.
Dr. Detweiler is survived by his loving wife, Sandy Fisher; his daughter, Catherine (Kate) Seibert Detweiler (Peter Bell); his son, David Logan Detweiler (Karina Oliveira Detweiler); two beloved grandsons, Evan Logan Bell and Dylan Oliveria Detweiler; two sisters, Carol McClellan of Oakland, CA, Nancy Metzger of Evanston, IL; sister-in-law, Nan Day of Lexington, NC, and numerous nieces and nephews.
His brother, Peter Hall Detweiler, predeceased him on January 21, 2016.
He was devoted to his family, to physics and teaching, and in recent years he became an avid runner with the Florida Track Club. He ran the Boston Marathon in 2015 completing it in 3 hours and 43 minutes and was preparing for the 2016 event.
A memorial sponsored by the University of Florida Physics Department will be held on Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 4 pm at the Baughman Center 982 Museum Road at the University of Florida.