Judith S. Liebman

Urbana - Judith S. Liebman, University of Illinois professor emerita of operations research, died Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Urbana.

Judith, the daughter of Raymond O. Stenzel and Mary Galloup Stenzel, was born July 2, 1936, in Denver. Raised mostly in Kansas City, Mo., she returned to her beloved Colorado mountains every summer, and it was natural that she would attend college at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she majored in physics. Interviewing for a student commitee assignment in her freshman year, she met her future husband, Jon. As she delighted in telling people throughout their lives together, "Jon was the only man I ever met whose eyes lit up when I said my major was physics."

Following Judith's graduation in 1958, Judith and Jon were married in San Diego, where Jon was serving on a U.S. Navy destroyer and Judith was writing computer programs for Convair Astronautics. Shortly thereafter, the Navy assigned Jon to the NROTC unit at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. At Cornell, the couple decided that Jon would leave the Navy and pursue a Ph.D. in environmental engineering. Judith supported them by continuing to pioneer as a computer programmer, first for a General Electric research laboratory and then for the Cornell Chemistry Department. In her spare time, she gave birth to, and began raising, their three children.

When Jon accepted a faculty position at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Judith undertook Ph.D. studies in operations research at the same institution. On completion of her degree, in 1971, she joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in the departments of Public Health Administration and Operations Research. But one year later, the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois offered faculty appointments to both Liebmans (an unheard-of move violating so-called nepotism rules that required the permission of then-President John E. Corbally to proceed), which they accepted, with Judith taking a minor appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well. Judith was the very first female tenure-track engineer in the College of Engineering.

When Jon was selected to be head of civil engineering, Judith moved her faculty appointment entirely into mechanical engineering. (Whether she was fleeing the anticipated tyranny of the new civil engineering head or the new head was encouraging a potentially fractious faculty member to leave the Civil Engineering Department remained the subject of mostly good-natured banter for years). From 1986 to 1992, Judith served as vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate college at the UI. Judith and Jon both retired in 1996, though they continued to teach part-time for several years.

Judith's research areas were applications of operations research in engineering optimization, health systems, and military and civil infrastructure investment. She also had a deep interest in studies directed toward improving engineering education.

Judith was the first female president of her professional society, the Operations Research Society of America (now INFORMS). She served on the Commitee for Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering and chaired the Advisory Commitee to the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was also a member of the board of the University of Colorado Foundation. She served on the U.S. Army Science Board and on its Executive Commitee, and chaired the Advisory Commitee for the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate.

Judith was also the first female member of the Urbana Rotary Club and served on its board of directors. Along with Jon, she built a world-class collection of contemporary glass sculptures, and she served for many years as a member of the board of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, an international charitable organization promoting art made from glass.

An outstanding gourmet cook, Judith loved experimenting with new recipes and delighted in preparing meals for the whole family or for entertaining friends. She was an accomplished pianist, a Master Gardener and an avid and competent bridge player. Even before retirement, she and Jon began to travel widely, and in the last 25 years, they visited all seven continents and covered most of the world, with her favorite trips being a cruise in the Antarctic and an 11-day trip from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, Russia, on the Trans-Siberia Express.

She was an incessant reader, a swimmer and a golfer. Judith loved animals, fed birds (and squirrels) wherever she lived, enjoyed horseback riding and doted on basset hounds.

Among her many awards, Judith was proudest of her selection by engineering students to be an Honorary Knight of St. Pat, and of being a two-time winner of the UI College of Engineering's Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence. She was selected as a distinguished engineering alumna by the University of Colorado, and received the George E. Kimball Medal for distinguished service to the profession of operations research.

Overshadowing all of the above accomplishments, Judith will be remembered for her ever-sunny smile, her always-cheerful demeanor, her iron will and her unflappable approach to every difficulty. Her absence dims the world, but her memory brightens it.

Judith is survived by her husband of almost 65 years; her brother, John Stenzel of Red Feather Lakes, Colo.; two sons, Christopher of Sunland, Calif., and Michael of Denver; a daughter, Becky Knight of San Antonio; eight grandchildren; and six great -randchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Red Feather Lakes Community Library, P.O. Box 123, Red Feather Lakes, CO 80545.