Vol. 19, No. 26

April 6, 2000

Two professors eulogized during semiannual meeting

Memorial tributes to James A. Moore, professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry, and Reed G. Geiger, professor emeritus of history, were presented by their colleagues at Monday’s semiannual General Faculty Meeting. John Burmeister, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, noted that Dr. Moore had served as an army private at White Sands, N.M., with a group of expatriate German rocketeers, led by Werner von Braun. After the World War II, Burmeister said, Prof. Moore earned his doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University and worked six years as a chemist for Parke Davis in Detroit before joining the University’s Department of Chemistry in 1955. Earning international recognition for his work as an organic chemist specializing in novel heterocyclic systems, Dr. Moore was the “legendary editor” of the Journal of Organic Chemistry for 25 years, a Gordon Conference section chairman for many years and coauthor of a popular textbook in organic chemistry. “He taught often and with enthusiasm,” Burmeister said, “and was adviser and mentor for 25 Ph.D. candidates and postdoctoral associates. Dr. Moore, who retired in 1988, died Dec. 3. Reed Geiger was characterized by his colleagues from the Department of History as “a meticulous scholar” with “a sharp intellect and impressive analytical powers.” A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Wooster, Dr. Geiger received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he received both Woodrow Wilson and Fulbright fellowships. He joined the Delaware faculty in 1961, specializing in European economic history. According to Raymond Wolters, Thomas Muncy Keith Professor of History, Dr. Geiger’s first book, The Anzin Coal Company, 1800-1830: Big Business in the Early Stages of the French Industrial Revolution, was named by Choice magazine as one of the outstanding academic books of 1976. Wolters said that Dr. Geiger was a “teaching scholar who was active in his community and especially devoted to the University of Delaware,” noting that he was one of the leaders of the AAUP collective bargaining campaigns of the early ‘70s. Prof. Geiger also is remembered by his colleagues as coordinator of the Hagley Program, as a key author in the restructuring of the administration of the history department, as a long-time supporter of the Delaware chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and as a committee member who was “generous with wit, wisdom and vigor for sometimes tedious committee work.” Noting that Dr. Geiger participated at a dissertation defense last November, Wolters said, “Reed showed up with an oxygen tank on his back, helped himself to a cup of coffee and proceeded to sum up in a few concise sentences what still didn’t work in the dissertation and how to fix it. It was gracefully done, helpful, nonthreatening but without conceding an intellectual inch.” Dr. Geiger died Jan. 12 of complications following a lung transplant. –Cornelia Weilemorial tributes to James A. Moore, professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry, and Reed G. Geiger, professor emeritus of history, were presented by their colleagues at Monday’s semiannual General Faculty Meeting. John Burmeister, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, noted that Dr. Moore had served as an army private at White Sands, N.M., with a group of expatriate German rocketeers, led by Werner von Braun. After the World War II, Burmeister said, Prof. Moore earned his doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University and worked six years as a chemist for Parke Davis in Detroit before joining the University’s Department of Chemistry in 1955. Earning international recognition for his work as an organic chemist specializing in novel heterocyclic systems, Dr. Moore was the “legendary editor” of the Journal of Organic Chemistry for 25 years, a Gordon Conference section chairman for many years and coauthor of a popular textbook in organic chemistry. “He taught often and with enthusiasm,” Burmeister said, “and was adviser and mentor for 25 Ph.D. candidates and postdoctoral associates. Dr. Moore, who retired in 1988, died Dec. 3. Reed Geiger was characterized by his colleagues from the Department of History as “a meticulous scholar” with “a sharp intellect and impressive analytical powers.” A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Wooster, Dr. Geiger received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he received both Woodrow Wilson and Fulbright fellowships. He joined the Delaware faculty in 1961, specializing in European economic history. According to Raymond Wolters, Thomas Muncy Keith Professor of History, Dr. Geiger’s first book, The Anzin Coal Company, 1800-1830: Big Business in the Early Stages of the French Industrial Revolution, was named by Choice magazine as one of the outstanding academic books of 1976. Wolters said that Dr. Geiger was a “teaching scholar who was active in his community and especially devoted to the University of Delaware,” noting that he was one of the leaders of the AAUP collective bargaining campaigns of the early ‘70s. Prof. Geiger also is remembered by his colleagues as coordinator of the Hagley Program, as a key author in the restructuring of the administration of the history department, as a long-time supporter of the Delaware chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and as a committee member who was “generous with wit, wisdom and vigor for sometimes tedious committee work.” Noting that Dr. Geiger participated at a dissertation defense last November, Wolters said, “Reed showed up with an oxygen tank on his back, helped himself to a cup of coffee and proceeded to sum up in a few concise sentences what still didn’t work in the dissertation and how to fix it. It was gracefully done, helpful, nonthreatening but without conceding an intellectual inch.” Dr. Geiger died Jan. 12 of complications following a lung transplant. –Cornelia Weil