John A. Quinn *59

John Quinn, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, died Feb. 8, 2016. He was 83.

In 1954, Quinn graduated at the top of his class from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. In 1959, he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton. In 1958, he returned to Illinois, and was a professor there until 1971.

Quinn became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for more than 30 years before retiring as professor emeritus. He received the university’s Warren Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1974 and attained the Bent Professorship in 1978. From 1980 to 1985, he was chair of the department of chemical and biochemical engineering.

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers honored him with the Colburn Award in 1966 and the Alpha Chi Sigma Award in 1978. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1978 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992. In 2004, former students and colleagues endowed the John A. Quinn Lecture, which is presented each spring at Penn.

Quinn is survived by his wife, Frances; three children; and four grandsons.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.