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News Release, December 6 2007
TEXAS A&M MOURNS LOSS OF LEGENDARY
COLLEAGUE RICHARD EWING
COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Richard
E. Ewing, world-renowned scientist in mathematics, engineering and
computational sciences and longtime vice president for research at Texas A&M
University, died
Wednesday (December 5) of an apparent heart attack, according to his family. He
was 61.
Funeral arrangements are
pending for the internationally eminent scholar and statesman, who came to
Texas A&M in 1992 as dean of the College
of Science, a position he
held until 2000, when he was appointed as vice president for research at Texas
A&M.
During a
33-year-career that successfully bridged the gap between academia and industry,
Ewing received widespread recognition
for profound discoveries and key contributions to numerous fields of research,
including numerical analysis and modeling, upscaling techniques for fluid flow
in porous media and petroleum reservoir modeling.
As vice president for
research, Ewing made perhaps his greatest
impact on both Texas A&M and the world, overseeing creative
scholarship, graduate studies and sponsored research throughout the university
and earning worldwide acclaim as one of the driving forces behind Texas
A&M’s rise to international research and educational prominence. According
to colleagues locally and across the globe, his visionary leadership and global
reputation as an ambassador of research collaboration, educational excellence
and related consensus-building were eclipsed only by his renown for
graciousness and professionalism during every step of the process.
“It is my opinion
that Dick Ewing has done more than any other person to contribute to the
substantial growth in research infrastructure and faculty talent here at Texas
A&M — first as dean of science for eight years and then as vice president
for research for seven more,” said Dr. H. Joseph Newton, dean of the College of
Science who served as a department head and as executive associate dean of
science under Ewing. “He was my administrative mentor and great friend, and I
will miss him terribly.”
Earlier this year, Ewing had
returned to the College of Science, where he held the Mobil Technology Company
Chair in Computational Science and was a distinguished professor of mathematics
and applied mathematics. In addition, he was a professor of engineering and
held a Distinguished Research Chair in the Texas Engineering Experiment Station.
He held previous faculty positions at several universities — most recently the University of Wyoming from 1983 to 1992 — and was also
a senior research mathematician and director of the Mathematical Modeling Group
for the Mobil Research and Development Corporation.
“The entire Aggie family
mourns the death of Dr. Richard E. Ewing,” said Dr. Ed Davis, interim president
of Texas A&M. “His significant contributions here at Texas A&M serving
as Vice President for Research and on a global scale as a world-renowned
scientist in mathematics, engineering and computational sciences will benefit
mankind for years to come. Dr. Ewing was unquestionably an outstanding scholar,
an exceptional teacher and a beloved friend who will be sorely missed. Our
thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Ewing also served as director
of the Institute for Scientific Computation at Texas A&M, which he founded
in 1992 and used to forge a number of long-term
strategic research alliances with many foreign partners, including Mexico, China
and Qatar.
Dr. William Rundell, professor
of mathematics at Texas A&M, said Ewing
had been a colleague and, more importantly, a friend to him since 1972, the
year they both got out of graduate school. Two decades later as former head of
the Department of Mathematics from 1991 to 2002, Rundell helped recruit Ewing to Texas A&M.
“Dick’s achievements form a
legacy,” Rundell said. “Tremendous mathematics, countless students who received
the best training imaginable, superb administration. But most of all, he was a
wonderful human being who always gave more than he took. Endless energy was a
trademark, but what truly distinguished him was his kindness, particularly to
those from whom he could not benefit.”
Another Texas A&M
mathematician, Dr. Raytcho Lazarov, an Institute for Scientific Computation
colleague who has known Ewing since their professorial days at the University of Wyoming,
described Ewing as a pioneer in mathematical
modeling and large-scale scientific computation, starting with his Ph.D. thesis
on inverse problems.
“Dick has made fundamental
contributions to every important subject in numerical analysis, mathematical
modeling and scientific computing,” Lazarov noted. “In fact, he has done so
much that it would take days to describe it all. Dick’s life was devoted to
science and to helping, in the best possible way, all of us to do science.”
Ewing earned his doctor of
philosophy, master of arts, and bachelor of arts degrees in mathematics from
the University of Texas at Austin.
In addition to tenured positions at Ohio
State University
and the University of Wyoming, he held a National Science Foundation
energy-related post doctoral fellowship at the University
of Chicago and a visiting position in
the Mathematics Research Center
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ewing authored or co-authored more than 350 publications and 15 books
and made more than 500 invited talks and presentations in 35 countries. He served on the editorial boards for 12 major national and
international scientific journals and held membership in numerous international
math and science organizations.
Ewing
had extensive experience in forging industrial partnerships through his
research collaborations, and he served on the boards of directors of numerous
organizations, including the National Space Biomedical Research Institute,
the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, the Houston Technology Center, the
Texas A&M Research Foundation, the Associated Western Universities Group,
the Southwestern Universities Research Association, and the Texas Healthcare
and Biosciences Institute.
In
recognition of his scholarly and professional service efforts, Ewing earned
many coveted honors and awards, including the prestigious Humboldt
Research Award in 2005 from Germany
for senior U.S.
scientists. Last year, the Richard Ewing Award for Excellence in Science,
Technology And Economic Development was established to recognize his many
accomplishments.
Ewing
is survived by his wife, Rita, of College Station; three sons, John Ewing and
wife, Karen, Larry Ewing and wife, Kristy, and Brad Ewing and Lexi Bateman, all
of Austin; and three granddaughters, Sarah, Eva and Katherine, all of Austin.
In lieu of flowers or other offerings, memorials may be made to Hospice Brazos Valley,
502 W. 26th St., Bryan, Texas 77801. Cards, letters and other written forms of condolences also may be addressed
to the Richard E. Ewing Family in care of the Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas 77843-3368.
