Adrian (Ray) Ramond Chamberlain

I just realized that Adrian, my grandfather's (Donald Swisher) nephew, died last year. I, too, grew up in Thompsonville, Michigan (born in 1958) with my grandparents. I actually share the same first name as Dr. Chamberlain's 2nd wife, Melanie. I didn't really know him well but my mother talked about him frequently. Sounded like he was a wonderful man! Melanie Kalliosaari

I first met Ray Chamberlain when He was president of Colorado State University in the 1970s and I was a student. I later was appointed editor of the student newspaper and got to know him better. Even though I occasionally would give him a hard time on the pages of the newspaper, he was always cordial and encouraging. He even was kind enough to recommend me for graduate school. Ray played an important role at CSU making it one of the nation´s top research universities. When I later worked for former Colorado Reps Jim Johnson and Hank Brown, we assisted CSU with that effort. Jim was primarily responsible for funding CSU´s new veterinary medical facility with Hank´s support when he was a state senator.

It's hard to describe the fantastic influence that Ray had on the parts of CSU closest to my heart. His trajectory here explains the rise we saw in CSU water research during the 1960s and he worked with and inspired the major figures who contributed the most to building our global reputation in water resources engineering. On a personal basis, when I got my PhD in 1969, I recall Ray congratulating me after he had been named President, to follow Bill Morgan. The ceremony was at the old field by College avenue that is now a track. Melanie and Ray had a wonderful time together and blessed many of us in his later years and roles. Ray's return to engineering work and election to NAE later are appropriate indicators of his life richly lived and filled with contributions. I am grateful for all that Ray did for CSU and those of us who love it, like he did. Neil Grigg

My father JR Hehn worked for Ray for many years and never had anything but good things to say about him. Ray was nice enough to speak at my father's funeral for about 20 minutes and our entire family always appreciated that.