In Loving Memory of
George Michael Bodner
March 8, 1946 – March 19, 2021
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Virtual Celebration of Life Gathering was held on April 2,2021 at 7:00 PM EDT
Dear husband, brother, and friend to many, George Bodner passed away peacefully on Friday March 19th after a long-term illness. He was born on March 8, 1946 in Rochester, New York to Max and Bessie (Lippman) Bodner. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Buffalo and two PhD degrees from Indiana University in organic and inorganic chemistry. He began his career as a professor at Stephens College in Missouri for a few years, then moved to University of Illinois for a few years, and then finally arrived at Purdue University. George was the Arthur E. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Education, & Engineering, and held an appointment at Purdue from 1977-2019. He was instrumental in creating the graduate program in Chemical Education and the School of Engineering Education. He established the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. He created the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) which had more than 4,000 members. For several decades he served on various committees of the American Chemical Society including the Board of Directors. He was President of the University Senate at Purdue. He was the author of more than 150 academic papers, an internationally renowned chemistry textbook, and he won many of the most prestigious national and international awards in his field.
If one is interested in the many awards George won and contributions he made to science and education, these are listed in abundance on Purdue’s website. But he will be remembered for more than his professional achievements. He was one of the most generous people with his time, resources, and spirit. He served as mentor to 77 graduate students as well as countless undergraduate students and fellow faculty members. Many of his friends called him a “Renaissance man” because of the breadth of his amazing intellect. In addition to being a world class scientist, his interests included history, philosophy, political science, literature, and music, and of course raising his pet dogs. Locally, he was a regular fixture at the Fiddler’s Gathering and Friends of Bob events, and he was a long-standing member of his treasured book club. He also had the most beautiful heart. He genuinely cared about people and tried to help them reach their full potential. He often said that his greatest joy in life was to see his students become successful and contribute to the world. He always had time to help someone with a problem, or to just have a friendly chat. His kindness and charity knew no bounds. One of his greatest passions was social justice. And countless people have commented that they will remember his clever wit most of all.
George is survived by his wife Christine (Nethercutt) Bodner, his sister Jacqueline Bodner, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was preceded in death by his brother Howard Bodner and parents Max and Bessie Bodner. In honor of George’s care for animals, memorial contributions may be made to an animal rescue charity of your choice.
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George took me in as an advisee during my last year at Purdue University. I will always be grateful for his kindness and wisdom. When I was feeling insecure about my place in Chem Ed, his seal of approval on my work gave my work legitimacy and credence. I will always remember the afternoon talks when I would randomly drop in at his office to chat about things I was uncertain of — about Chem ed, navigating academia, and life. I was reading the numerous emails he sent me over the years and for me, this quip captures him best
“…………You’re doing very well, so far. But, we’re going to still keep stretching you. I have heard of two appropriate metaphors for academics. One is the bonsai tree. Theodore Sturgeon in one of his science fiction stories from the 60’s noted that everyone who has one of these small trees use pieces of wire to tie it so that it grows in a “beautiful” direction. He noted, however that it never grows the way you thought it would; it grows in an even more beautiful way.
The other metaphor, of course, is the medieval rack on which people were tied and “stretched” in both directions. We’re going to make you a “bigger, taller” version of yourself!”
Thank you George for everything! <3
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George was a gracious and generous creative force and an academic ground-breaker. He created opportunities at Purdue for novel scholarly work that opened the door to my career. He gave me room, encouragement, introductions, guidance, and support from 1985 to 1989 and beyond, while keeping it fun. Without him, it is tough to imagine I would have been able to line up a 31-year career doing what I loved most – classroom chemistry teaching, instructional lab coordination, HS teacher prep, scholarly work in Chem Ed. He is academically grandfather to over 60 HS chemistry teachers certified in PA. My wife Mary and I are now and forever grateful.
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George was a giant of a man. He was compassionate, intelligent, full of humor, and just generally wonderful. As a graduate student at Purdue, he took time to mentor me. As a TA for his class, I learned a lot about helping students, academically and progressing humans. George was a man of his word. I hope I can fill even one of his shoes. You are loved and missed.
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George’s CE research and insights profoundly influenced me because he was also an excellent chemist. As a consequence, much of his writing was related to particular chemical concepts and ideas, rather than to contextless generalisations that needed interpretation to the specific. From across the oceans, he was a good, kind and valued friend. I so clearly recall the day that I took him to an Australian Rules football match in Perth, and he declared that it should be called Australian Rule football – and that even then he was presuming that there was indeed a rule. Vale George.
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George was an influential man especially in Chemical Education Research and his reputation transcended national borders. I deliberately applied to Purdue to work with him. As an international student leaving home for the first time, I was struggling. George helped me generously adjust and then grow. His guidance and mentoring were and still are useful not only in chemistry education research but also in real life. He will be remembered and missed greatly.
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George was amazingly generous with his time, talent, and treasures. As one of his graduate students, I knew that if George’s door was open, he was open to being interrupted. If I asked him questions about chemistry, chemical education, education, history, music, sports, writing, and religion (LOL) and he’d gladly share his knowledge. He also discretely helped a few graduate students with silent gifts.
I have 1000’s of thoughts about George. I want to leave two here:
(1) He stopped his busy schedule, one day, to encourage me. I did not know that I needed encouragement but he did. I respected George’s candor and knew that he would not be encouraging me unless he was sincere. His encouraging words strongly impacted me.
(2) George traveled a great deal. George tirelessly traveling around the states, promoting Chemical Education via the American Chemical Society regional lecture circuits. The walls of his research area were plastered with dozens of plaques commemorating his speeches. He also would vacation by driving his pickup truck and Harley to various locations outside of Indiana. I recently re-discovered Johnny Cash. Now, when I listen to Cash’s “I’ve been everywhere man,” I envision George riding his Harley in the southwest, at peace, with a big grin on his face.
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I enjoyed the intellectual engagement and support George provided me when I started at Purdue. He was always so thoughtful to provide me time and feedback to explore and expand on ideas. I will miss our conversations and mentorship. His memory will be everlasting.
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George was a font of knowledge on almost any subject and always willing to share in a way that made you smile if not laugh out loud. One of the challenges of our monthly book club was to suggest a book that George had not already read. Over 40 years there were only a few. We will miss his wit, his insight, and his stories, but most of all his shining example of how important a sense of humor is to a life well-lived.
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I recall the struggle to convince Purdue’s Chemistry Faculty of the need for a second person specializing in Chemistry Education, and when George was hired to fill the position, I wondered whether he or the Graduate Program in Chemistry Education itself would survive. He did, it did, and at this point in time, there will be few, if any, people living who do not conflate the two.
George Bodner will long be remembered for his contributions to the fields of Chemistry and Chemistry Education at Purdue University.
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It was a true gift to work for George. He was such a pleasure to be around and I am forever grateful to have gotten to know him. Rest in Peace.
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Dr. Bodner touched so many lives and always had kindness to share. I always felt he gave me a chance, and I am forever grateful to him. His humor and wit provided many smiles. He will be greatly missed.
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George was one of the most influential people in my career. He introduced me to educational research and helped us form the school of engineering education. I cherished the times we taught together or collaboratively like when we created linked first-year seminars to look at science and engineering through a lens of diversity. He introduced me to educational research and mentored me in a whole new field. He was a key mentor as I navigated tenure and worked with me to get to full professor. One of the biggest compliments I ever got was when George told me that Purdue needed people like me. Purdue thrived because of people like him. He was always generous with his time. I wish I had spent more time with him in his last years. He made a huge impression on my children an was always interested in what they were doing. I always felt loved by George and we loved him. He will be missed and his legacy lives on with the many thousands of people he touched.
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Almost a contemporary, I first met George around 1972 when I was a graduate student at Illinois and he joined the same Division as a postdoctoral with joint teaching and research responsibilities. Later we became colleagues in the Chemistry Department at Purdue where we both worked for more than 40 years, only to retire at about the same time. Over the years we interacted regularly discussing students, ideas about teaching, and occasionally American Chemical Society matters. He mentored a number of excellent graduate students, several of whom elected to take CHM 642 from me. Halfway into our tenure, I was on the Undergraduate Committee that designed the one-semester Honors course, CHM 136, and George was the first faculty member to teach it. He kept the assignment for about 10 years, and then I became his successor. I have many fond memories of George as both a friend and a colleague.
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I’ll always remember George for his deeply human warmth, generosity of spirit, and wondrously expansive mind. So proud to be his nephew.
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George was my first and best mentor and a true friend. He will always be a shining light.
Ann Cutler
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George was an active and important member of Friends of Bob live music co-op. He was a welcoming and familiar face at the door of the venue, and an always enjoyable participant in our meetings. We will always miss him.
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I want to thank George for his contributions to Chemical Education and appreciate how his passion for learning helped nourish Engineering Education in its infancy. He was a very important supporter of ENE in its early development. George was always generous in sharing what he knew.
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George was a valued colleague and friend to me. I will forever be grateful to him, and remember fondly, for how he welcomed me as a friend into the department when I arrived at Purdue. He was supportive and instrumental throughout the development of my career at Purdue. I learned something from George every time I was around him, whether it was something related to our academic pursuits or just a random tidbit about life, history, philosophy…or any of a vast variety of other subjects. I will remember George’s sense of humor, and his warmth as an individual. George was also generous with his time. Even a few months ago he wrote a support letter for an award nomination of a mutual colleague of ours – something which I could tell was a much greater effort for him than it would have been in the past, but which he nonetheless completed eagerly. He cared deeply about the field of Chemistry Education Research, about our Division and about the Department of Chemistry. Almost no need to say it, but he was a giant of the CER world and was responsible for our Division becoming the world class research powerhouse that it has been. I will miss George. The field of CER will not be the same without him. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for all he has given us.
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The sun does not shine as brightly these past days in George’s absence from us. I, too, have benefited as a professional and a human being for simply having known him. Thank you, George, for all that you gave and for all that you are. A piece of you lives on in all of us. Rest well, and keep watch over us as you did in life.
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Of all of George’s wonderful attributes, his sense of humour is the one I will always remember most. The original stories and quirky one-liners were legendary. His legacy will live on in the people he influenced.
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You are greatly loved and will be sorely missed.
Peace.
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I am one of the many beneficiaries of George’s generosity. Because of his belief in me, his support, his kindness, and his love, I became a much better person than I ever dreamed I would be. I am committed to pass his generosity forward. There’s a big George-shaped hole in my heart right now, but I will fill it by being as kind and loving and supportive of others as he was of me.