John Schellman, retired professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, died Dec. 16, 2014, at the age of 90.
During World War II, Schellman served in the Army as the director of the hospital laboratory at Army Intelligence’s Camp Ritchie. He then received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Temple University in 1948, and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton in 1951. After two postdoctoral fellowships, he went to the University of Minnesota as an assistant professor.
In 1958, Schellman began teaching at the University of Oregon, and a few years later joined the university’s newly formed Institute for Molecular Biology. His expertise was in experimental and theoretical physical chemistry and the energetics and dynamics of biomolecules.
Schellman spent his sabbatical leaves in laboratories abroad. He retired in 1989 from Oregon, but continued doing research there and published his last paper after age 80. He was awarded honorary degrees from two European universities, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Schellman was predeceased in 2008 by his wife, Charlotte, his colleague and fellow researcher. He is survived by two daughters and a grandson.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.