In Memoriam: Professor Robert D. Stoll

Professor Emeritus Robert D. Stoll passed away on Saturday, September 17, 2016, following a long illness.

Professor Stoll was born in Lincoln, Illinois on August 12,1931. He received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1953. Starting in 1954, he spent two years in French Morocco as part of the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps; he left active duty as a Lieutenant Junior grade and the U.S. Navy Reserve, in 1965, as a Lieutenant. Professor Stoll received his doctorate in civil engineering from Columbia University in  962 and then spent the remainder of his research and teaching career at Columbia. Upon retirement from CEEM, He continued to be associated with Columbia's Lamont Earth Observatory in Piermont, New York where he was a visiting senior research scientist.

Professor Stoll was an internationally renowned expert in sediment acoustics. He published more than 60 papers and two books over a forty-year career at Columbia. He supervised many doctoral students who rose to high positions in industry, academia, and government. Always the craftsman, he built much of his experimental apparatus in his basement machine shop.

Professor Stoll is survived by his wife of 54 years, June (nee Rye), three children, Russell Stoll of Alexandria, VA, Kirsten Pelekis of Ridgewood, NJ, and Erica Onofrio of Fairfield, CT, and six grandchildren.