John B. Butt (1935 – 2007)

August 27, 2007

We are saddened to announce the passing of our friend and colleague John B. Butt on Wednesday, August 15, 2007.  John was a member of Northwestern’s Chemical Engineering Faculty from 1969 – 1997, and a Walter P. Murphy Professor from 1981 to 1997.  He was widely known and respected for his research on chemical catalysis and reaction engineering.  At Northwestern, John supervised over 40 MS & PhD students during his career.

John received his BS degree from Clemson University (1956), followed by MS (1958) and PhD (1960) degrees from Yale; he taught at Yale prior to joining the Northwestern faculty.  John was the author or co-author of more than 200 papers and three books in his career.  The second edition of his textbook Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Design was published in 2000.  John received the AIChE Colburn Award and Professional Progress Award, and the E. B. Masted Award.  He was a fellow of the AIChE and a recipient of a Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize.  In 2000 and 2003, John was honored, respectively by Yale University and Clemson University as a distinguished alumnus.

After retiring from Northwestern, John and his wife Regina retired to Prescott Arizona, where, for a while, John taught Fluid Mechanics at Embry-Riddle University’s Prescott campus.  Regina is planning a celebration of John’s life at their home in Prescott on September 10, John’s Birthday.