Deceased January 11, 2021
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
Bob Ward devoted his career to the teaching of physics and science education at a variety of colleges: Harvey Mudd, Williams, the University of Chicago and then for 25 years at the University of Northern Iowa. As he wrote, “I have spent most of my career working and thinking about teaching science, especially for those who do not plan to work in science.”
At Amherst, he majored in physics, won the prize for physics and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Later, he became a member of Sigma Xi. At Harvard, he earned his Ph.D.
Bob prepared for Amherst at Newton (Mass.) High School and came from a family of multiple Amherst graduates. He was a member of Phi Alpha Psi and participated in crew. Although he found the College’s recently established “New Curriculum” weak in science teaching, he highly valued the curriculum in general for providing a good general education to all students, especially in courses like English 1 and the sophomore American studies course, which emphasized process over content.
According to another obituary, after many years of teaching, “he retired to Santa Barbara, Calif., to enjoy rowing in the ocean, reading, gardening and walking various dogs. He loved travel.”
Bob died on Jan. 11, 2021. He is survived by his wife, Nina; his son, Nathaniel; his daughter, Emily; his stepchildren, Kathy, Christopher, Alex and Adrian; four grandchildren; his sister, Ann; and nephews and nieces.
George Edmonds ’53