In Memoriam Fall 2024
James Dittami, Pioneering Organic Chemist and Former Department Head
James P. Dittami, a longtime professor of chemistry and former head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, died Aug. 29, 2024. He was 71.
Dittami, who received an AB from Holy Cross College and an MS in chemistry from Boston College, began working as a natural products chemist while pursuing a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at RPI. With a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, he completed postdoctoral research with E. J. Corey at Harvard, who later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on organic synthesis.
James P. Dittami
After joining WPI in 1985, Dittami undertook the total synthesis of many natural compounds, a painstaking, step-by-step process that transforms readily available chemicals into the desired molecules, often turning up potential new therapeutic agents along the way. Dittami said he liked to take on difficult molecules, because more could be learned from their synthesis, and to try to find the most elegant synthetic routes. “For me,” he once said, “a synthesis is like creating a work of art.”
In 1995, Dittami was named head of WPI’s Chemistry Department. During his 10-year term, he oversaw its transformation into the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and helped plan WPI’s Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, which opened at Gateway Park in 2007. He also forged a number of corporate partnerships that created research and learning opportunities for students.
Concerned that too few high school students were choosing careers in science, he decided to try to bolster science education at the elementary school level by launching the Science Connection. Funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it sent WPI students to teach and inspire students in the Quabbin and Wachusett regional school districts and the Worcester Public Schools.
Dittami is survived by his wife, Marisol, three sons, and two grandchildren.
James Hanlan, Professor of History and Longtime Faculty Parliamentarian
James P. Hanlan, who taught American history at WPI for nearly half a century, died Aug. 17, 2024, at the age of 79.
Hanlan, a Worcester native, spent the early part of his academic journey within the city, earning an AB in history at Holy Cross College and master’s and doctoral degrees across town at Clark University, and then holding teaching appointments at Clark, Assumption College, and Quinsigamond Community College before joining the WPI faculty full time in 1980.
James P. Hanlan
An authority on American labor, urban, and social history, he was the author of two books: The Working Population of Manchester, New Hampshire, 1840-1886, and The History of Woodbury and Company, a Worcester printing firm (with Kent Ljungquist and Rodney Obien). He was also co-editor of the two-volume, 724-page Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, which Booklist called “outstanding in concept, coverage, layout, and documentation.”
Hanlan was a founding member of the New England Historical Association, a professional organization representing historians of all stripes working in New England, and served as its executive secretary for 20 years. He was also a longtime member and one-time president of the Northeast Popular Culture Association and former director of WPI’s Living Museums Program, which provided undergraduates opportunities to complete project work at several New England museums.
In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Hanlan was active in faculty governance, serving as secretary of the faculty from 1994 to 1997 and, for some 15 years, taking on the vital role of parliamentarian. From his chair at the front of the auditorium, and with a well-thumbed copy of Robert’s Rules of Order close at hand, he helped maintain order and decorum at WPI faculty meetings.
Hanlan is survived by two sons, a daughter, and four grandchildren. Gaye. his wife of 42 years, died in 2014.
In Memoriam
John Lovell ’53 ME, PHI KAPPA THETA, Croydon, N.H.
Robert Pratt ’53 ME, Suwanee, Ga.
Harry Barton ’55 ME, PHI SIGMA KAPPA, Fairfax, Va.
Michael Gordon ’56 EE, ALPHA EPSILON PI, Mission Viejo, Calif.
Douglas Willoughby ’59 EE, Georgetown, Texas
Stephen Levy ’60 EE, ALPHA EPSILON PI, Knoxville, Tenn.
Peter Sugda ’61 CE, THETA CHI, South Harwich, Mass.
Roland Beauregard ’62 ME, MS ME, PHI SIGMA KAPPA, Auburn, Mass.
Bruce Maccabee ’64 PHY, TAU KAPPA EPSILON, Lima, Ohio
Mario Tama ’64 BS, ME, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Easton, Md.
Malcom MacGregor ’66 CHE, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Plymouth, Mass.
Joseph Lagana ’67 BS, ME, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Wethersfield, Conn.
Thomas Peraro ’68 MG, North Branford, Conn.
Vesa Aunio ’69 ME, MS ME, Manchester, N.J.
Carl Ballard ’69 ME, MS ME, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Gregory Pollack ’69 EE, ALPHA EPSILON PI, Hingham, Mass.
William Willand ’69 CE, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Buzzards Bay, Mass.
James Small ’70 CE, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Burlington, Mass.
Arthur Clemons ’71 SIM, Shrewsbury, Mass.
John Laramee ’71 CE, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Norman Sousa ’71 ME, ALPHA TAU OMEGA, West Hartford, Conn.
Paul Potvin ’72 MS NS, Brandon, Vt.
Paul Melnick ’73 CS, ALPHA CHI RHO, Fairfield, Conn.
Donald Zereski ’74 SIM, Fairfield, Conn.
Craig Vickery ’78 PHY, Sutton, Mass.
Neil Donoghue ’79 SIM, Rutland, Mass.
Catherine Lugbauer ’81 SIM, New York, N.Y.
Charles Kincaid ’82 CE, Worcester, Mass.
Robert Castner ’83 EE, Cape Coral, Fla.
Terence O’Coin ’83 CS, MS CS, Leicester, Mass.
Craig Baptiste ’84 ME, Augusta, Ga.
Michael Petkewich ’85 MG, Lynn, Mass.
Timothy McElroy ’87 EE, Warwick, R.I.
Steven McDaniel ’91 MA, Smithfield, R.I.
Mary Fuller ’94 MS NS, Sterling, Mass.
Timothy Wilfert ’00 ME, SIGMA PI, Wellesley Hills, Mass.
David Cohen ’16 MS EE, Groton, Conn.
The WPI community also notes the passing of these friends of the university: Patricia Beckett, C. Bell, Michael Curley, Aiden DeFour, Richard Desrosiers, Aline Dubois, Robert Norton, John O’Connor, Heidi Startz, and James Watters.