Richard A. Oriani *48

Richard A. Oriani, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, died Aug. 11, 2015, at the age of 95.

Born in El Salvador, he came to the United States in 1929 with his parents, settling in the New York City area. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1943 with a degree in chemical engineering and earned a master’s degree in chemistry from Stevens Institute of Technology while working at Bakelite Corp. on World War II-related projects.

At the end of the war, he began his studies in physical chemistry at Princeton and earned a Ph.D. in 1948. Before graduation, Oriani and a fellow graduate student gave a concert featuring Franck’s “Violin and Piano Sonata in A Major” to thank their professors.

He left Princeton to become a research associate at General Electric Co. in Schenectady, N.Y. In 1959, he became manager of the physical-chemistry section of U.S. Steel Corp. in Monroeville, Pa., and was invited to become director of the Corrosion Center at the University of Minnesota in 1980. He won the Whitney Award from the National Association of Corrosion Engineers and the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize in 1987.

Oriani is survived by his wife of 66 years, Constance; four children; and eight grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.