Edward John Kramer

Kramer, Edward John

Professor Edward John Kramer, 75 years old, passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 27, 2014 in Santa Barbara, CA. He was predeceased by his parents Edward Noble Kramer and Irma Helen (neé Nemetz) Kramer. Ed was born and raised in Wilmington, DE and graduated from Mount Pleasant High School (1957), Cornell University (B.Ch.E, 1962) and Carnegie Mellon University (Ph.D. in Metallurgy and Materials Science, 1966). After a year-long NATO fellowship at Oxford University, Ed returned to Cornell to begin an academic career spanning 47 years. He retired from Cornell in 1997 as the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. His research and teaching continued at the University of California Santa Barbara where he held a joint appointment as Professor of Materials and Chemical Engineering until his death. Throughout his career Ed received numerous academic honors and awards, including the High Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society (1985), the U.S. Senior Scientist Award of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (1987), election to the National Academy of Engineering (1989), Docteur honoris causa from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (1995), the Swinburne Award of the Institute of Materials (UK, 1996), the Turnbull Lecture Award of the Materials Research Society (2009), and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012). Ed was a passionate teacher, mentor and colleague to the many students and post-doctoral fellows with whom he worked throughout his career. As passionate as he was about science, Ed equally loved advising his students. Over the course of his life Ed traveled extensively, combining work and pleasure. In his career he enjoyed academic sabbaticals and visits, making new friends, and savoring new cuisines and cultures on all continents except Antarctica. The longest stays were in Oxford, England; Chicago, IL; Göttingen and Mainz, Germany; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Paris, France. As an avid lover of wine, travel was a boon to his knowledge and the move to Santa Barbara, especially, encouraged greater appreciation. Another passion of Ed's was swimming. He was an early morning Masters swimmer for over 40 years, first at Cornell and then at Los Baños del Mar pool in Santa Barbara. Ed is survived by his wife of 51 years, Gail Woodford Kramer; his brothers, James Kramer of Nellysford, VA and Gordon Burris of Charlottesville, VA; his children, Eric (Marta) Kramer of Tucson, AZ and Jeanne (Michael) Kane of Mountain Lakes, NJ; his grandchildren, Matthew Kane, Allison Kane, Cecilia Kramer, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Ed will be sorely missed for his brilliant scientific mind, his generous spirit and love as a husband, father, grandfather, mentor and scholar. A memorial service at the University of California Santa Barbara is planned for summer 2015.