Robert J. "Jeff" Wagenet, professor and former chair of the Soil, Crop and Atmospheric Sciences Department, died July 31 of cancer. He was 46.
Wagenet came to Cornell in 1982 as an associate professor in the agronomy department. In 1986 he became a professor and was named department chair in 1987.
In April, the Cornell Soil Judging team dedicated its effort to Wagenet in the soil-judging national championships held in Madison, Wisc. Through his support when he was chair of the department, the soil-judging team was outfitted with appropriate gear and procured a larger travel budget. In 1996 the team won the national championship.
Wagenet earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Davis in 1971, a master's degree in 1972 from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate in 1975 from UC-Davis. After earning his doctorate, he became a water scientist at UC-Davis. In 1976 he joined Utah State University in Logan as an assistant professor of soil science and biometeorology and was promoted to associate professor in 1979. In 1982, he became a professor at Utah State University. During his career at Utah, he was twice named Professor of the Year in the College of Agriculture.
Professional honors included being named a fellow in the Soil Science Society of America and an honor award from the Soil and Water Conservation Society of America in 1989 for his work in characterizing chemical reactions in soils and water systems. He also served as editor of the Journal of Environmental Quality.
He is survived by his wife, Linda; a son, T.R., 18; and a daughter, Kylie, 15.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a fund established to help students in the Department of Soil, Crop and Atmospheric Sciences. Checks, made payable to Cornell University, should be sent to SCAS, Emerson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853. Contributions also may be sent to Hospicare, 172 E. King Road, Ithaca N.Y. 14850, or any children's charity.
Dean Lee Taylor, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and a leading researcher and educator in computer-aided design (CAD), died at home in Ithaca July 31. He was 48.
He joined the faculty of Cornell's Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 1976 and served as the school's associate director from 1991 to 1996, leading a major curriculum review and revision. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1995 and was honored with the College of Engineering's Excellence in Teaching Award (1989).
He will be remembered as an innovative researcher and educator in the fields of system dynamics, computer-aided design, design theory, micromechanical machines and concurrent engineering, said Donald L. Bartel, the professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who collaborated with Taylor in designing bone-implant systems. The associate director of the Sibley School, Bartel credits Taylor with developing important laboratories for research and education, including the Integrated Mechanical Analysis Project Laboratory and its successor, the Biomechanics Computing Laboratory, which are used extensively for the analysis and design of orthopedic implants. Taylor's textbook, Computer-Aided Design, (Addison-Wesley, 1992) presented a new approach to using the computer for design and analysis.
In addition to teaching in the College of Engineering, he contributed to the continuing education of industrial executives through short courses taught in the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell. He also was active in the Realization Consortium, a national engineering educational effort, and the Cornell Manufacturing Enterprise.
He earned a B.S. (1971) from Oklahoma State University and an M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1975) from Stanford University. He was a visiting research fellow at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 1981 and a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley in 1990.
In addition to his mother living in Oklahoma City, he is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and daughter Lauren, at home; a brother; a sister; and his maternal grandmother. Memorial donations may be made to WSKG Public Television and Radio, P.O. Box 3000, Binghamton, N.Y. 13902.
Carlton E. Wright, professor emeritus of consumer education, died May 30. He was 86.
An authority in the field of consumer education and food marketing, he pioneered an extension program for bringing up-to-date food marketing information to audiences in New York City, and he organized in 1948 the Food Information Program covering the metropolitan area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, under the sponsorship of Cornell, Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut. After directing the program in New York City for five years, he returned in 1953 to the Cornell campus to assume leadership in a similar program directed to consumers throughout the state.
He also worked with the Federal Extension Service in Washington, D.C., in 1955; served from 1962-1964 as chief-of-party of the Cornell Project at the University of Liberia in West Africa; and was consultant in 1967 to New York City Mayor John Lindsay's newly formed Council on Consumer Affairs. In 1969 he returned to New York City as special assistant to the state director of Cooperative Extension and was named controller in 1971.
He received his B.S. degree from the University of Vermont and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell. He taught at Vermont, inaugurated the two-year agricultural program at the University of New Hampshire, and was president of the State University College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill. He also served as director of research and publications for the American Vocational Association in Washington, D.C.
He retired from Cornell in 1973 as professor emeritus.
He was an active member of the First Congregational Church of Ithaca for more than 40 years, was active in the Boy Scouts of America, the Friends of the Library and the Cayuga Trails Club, and was president of the Finger Lakes Trail Conference.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Lucille Neumann Wright, two sons and four grandchildren.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Memorial Fund of the First Congregational Church of Ithaca, 309 Highland Road, Ithaca N.Y. 14850, or to the Cornell Library Associates, Library Public Affairs, Cornell University, 214 John M. Olin Library, Ithaca N.Y. 14853-5301.