Robert Wagner, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), died June 15, 2013. He was 92.
During World War II, Wagner enlisted in the Army and was a flight engineering officer on a B-29 bomber, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1946, he graduated from Drexel University. From Princeton he earned a master’s degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1955, both in chemical engineering.
Wagner taught at WPI for 40 years, retiring in 1989. He received the WPI Board of Trustees Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1972, was named to the George I. Alden Chair in Engineering in 1981, and in 1994 earned the William J. Grogan Award for supporting WPI. In 2001, the school established the Robert E. Wagner Educational Fund.
He was president of the Worcester Engineering Society, president of the Central Massachusetts section of the American Chemical Society, and received the Nashua River Watershed Association Conservation Award for his work studying the negative effects of acid rain.
Wagner was predeceased by Ruth, his wife of 64 years, in 2009. He is survived by three daughters, a grandson, and a great-granddaughter.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.