James D. Patterson

James D. Patterson

RAPID CITY | James Deane Patterson was born in 1934 in Gillette, WY, and passed away on Oct. 22, 2020. His parents were John F. Patterson originally of Truro, Iowa, and Mabel E. Patterson originally of Princeville, Illinois. When he was one year old, his parents moved to Missouri. Until he was 10, the family lived on a farm near Centralia, Missouri (the area was called Possum Walk), and then moved to Columbia, Missouri after his father died. The move allowed Jim (as he was known) to attend the U. of MO while staying at home and thus be affordable to him and his family.

Since he was very young he had been fascinated with physics and therefore he obtained an AB from MU, a SM (Master of Science) from the U. of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the U. of Kansas, all in physics. He was an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University, an Associate Professor, then Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, a Professor then Professor and Department Head at the Florida Institute of Technology. In addition he was a Visiting Professor at the U. of Notre Dame, the U. of Nebraska, and the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil.

While in Brazil, he met his wife Marluce Teixeira Marinho Patterson, who was the Chief Librarian at the Physics Department there.

In addition, during summers he has had professional positions at North American Aviation, Columbus, Ohio, Hughes Semiconductor Laboratory, Los Angeles, CA (two summers), Texaco Research Lab, Houston, TX, Atomics International, Los Angeles , CA, Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago, IL, Ames Lab. of Iowa State University, Ames, IA, Avionics Lab of Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, OH, Sandia Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM, REPEC, Rapid City, SD, and Marshal Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (two summers).

He taught many classes in physics both at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has supervised 13 Master's theses, two Ph.D. theses (one co-supervised) and three post doctoral students. He has had numerous grants awarded to him from outside agencies, and has written several papers and books, both technical and fictional. His last book was (with Bernard C. Bailey), "Solid State Physics, An Introduction to the Theory," Springer, Verlag, 2018. This was third edition of the book published by Springer. An earlier edition, written by JDP alone, was published by Addison -Wesley. Solid State Physics was Jim's specialty, both for teaching and research.

In retirement, he has lived the last 20-plus years in Rapid City with Marluce. They have two daughters, one is an attorney in private practice and the other is a physics professor.

Besides his family and physics, he has had a lifelong interest in the St. Louis Cardinals, Writing (e.g. "Prince of Possum Walk," by J. D. Patterson, Xlibri s, 2013), Literature (Hemingway and, Conrad especially), dogs, airplanes, dixieland jazz, photography, and the American West. In his younger days he also enjoyed traveling.

Before he passed away he wrote down for his obituary that his single most lucky time was when he went to Brazil and met his future wife (Marluce) which also led, of course, to his beloved daughters, Marlann (son Liam whose father is Marlann's husband Todd Zimmerman) and Jamy (daughter Roja whose father is Jamy's deceased husband Timothy Standing Soldier).

He thanks his mother for directing his energies to intellectual areas, his father for teaching him important moral values, and his sisters Amy and Patricia (now deceased) for teaching him to select a goal and never give up pursuing it.