FLICKR, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, SANDY SCHAEFFER
Mechanical engineer Charles Vest, who was appointed to advisory committees by two U.S. presidents and served as MIT’s fifteenth president, died of pancreatic cancer last week (December 12). He was 72 years old.
“Chuck Vest’s irrepressible good humor and easy laughter mixed effortlessly with his earnest, persistent pursuit of the right path in all things,” Susan Hockfield, who followed Vest as MIT president, said in a statement.
Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1941, Vest got a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in mechanical engineering, and earned masters and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. In 1968 he joined the University of Michigan’s faculty, where he researched applications of laser optics and holography. He became an associate dean of engineering ...
