Dr. John Quinn, engineer and Penn professor
John A. Quinn, 83, of Merion, a chemical engineer and professor known fondly to students as "Dr. Q," died Monday, Feb. 8, at Lankenau Hospital, where he had been taken after collapsing at home.
John A. Quinn, 83, of Merion, a chemical engineer and professor known fondly to students as "Dr. Q," died Monday, Feb. 8, at Lankenau Hospital, where he had been taken after collapsing at home.
Dr. Quinn had a long and distinguished career. He joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1970s and never really retired.
He was given the university's S. Reid Warren Jr. Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1974 and the Robert D. Bent Professorship in 1978. He was chairman of the department of chemical and biochemical engineering from 1980 to 1985.
He received the Allan P. Colburn Award in 1966 and the Alpha Chi Sigma Award in 1978, both from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1978 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.
He was a distinguished lecturer and visiting professor at numerous universities in the United States and Europe, and received many awards and honors.
Born in Springfield, Ill., to Marie and Edward Quinn, he was the youngest of seven children. In 1951, he moved to Champaign-Urbana to attend the University of Illinois. He graduated at the top in his class with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1954.
Three years later, he met and married Frances Wilkie Daly.
After undergraduate study, Dr. Quinn received a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton University. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on fluidization, a process by which solids are changed into a fluidlike state through contact with a gas or liquid. Dr. Quinn's later research dealt with membrane science.
In 1958, he and his wife returned to the University of Illinois, where he worked as a professor until moving to Penn in 1971.
He was a popular teacher. In 2004, his former students and colleagues endowed the John A. Quinn Lecture in Chemical Engineering, presented each spring at Penn in recognition of his achievements as a researcher, mentor, and educator.
"Dr. Q was extremely devoted to his students, many of whom became lifelong friends," his family said. He continued to work a few days a week until his death.
Dr. Quinn's quest for knowledge never diminished. "He read the newspaper cover to cover most days and could discuss any topic under the sun at length during family meals," his family said.
He enjoyed bad jokes, good scotch, touring Europe, Mel Brooks movies, New York Times crossword puzzles, and following Philadelphia sports teams. He also was a skilled woodworker, crafting most of the furniture in the family homes in Merion Station and Cotuit, Mass.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by daughters Sarah Quinn Christensen and Becket Quinn McNab; a son, John Edward Quinn; four grandsons; two sisters; and a brother.
Services were Monday, Feb. 15. Burial was private.
Contributions may be made to the Lukas Community, 63 Memorial Dr., Box 137, Temple, N.H. 03084. The community is for adults with developmental disabilities.
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