Passings

Janet Delany, a beloved member of Pitt Information Technology’s Analytics team since 2000, passed away March 30, 2023, at 85. Delany had no intentions of retiring from her remarkable career. Instead, she maintained an eagerness and joy for her work till her dying day.

Delany’s vast contributions — ranging from Y2K remediation to the architecture of Pitt’s enterprise data warehouse and the implementation of Pitt Worx — will continue to have lasting effects on our student and employee experiences at Pitt.

 “Janet was a remarkable data engineer who was a recipient of the 2021 Chancellor’s Outstanding Career Achievement Award for Staff,” said Chad Burton, Pitt IT’s executive director of analytics. “She was an exceptional person and a role model to her peers, whose work over more than 20 years made ripples that touch every corner of the University.”

Seeman, a New York University chemist who earned a Ph.D. in crystallography/biochemistry from Pitt in 1970,  founded and developed the field of DNA nanotechnology—which is now pursued by over 250 laboratories across the globe—more than 35 years ago. His creations allowed him to arrange DNA building blocks to form specific molecules with precision through self-assembly—similar to the way a robotic automobile factory can be told what kind of car to make. Seeman’s work led the Christian Science Monitor to conclude that “nanotechnology may have found its Henry Ford.”

Seeman served as the the Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Chemistry at NYU.

LaPorte, an emeritus professor of epidemiology who had a unique and lasting impact on everything from diabetes research to open-access academic lectures, the modern Library of Alexandria and care for homeless veterans, died on Oct. 30, 2021, at 72.

His colleagues noted on the epidemiology department webpage: “To his many friends and collaborators across the globe, Ron LaPorte was both the inexhaustible investigator who led them down the path of constant inquiry and an instant friend who brought energy and fun to any gathering.”

LaPorte finished his Ph.D. in psychology at Pitt in 1976.

Harper, the first Black tenured professor at Pitt's School of Law, died Oct. 12, 2021, at 82.

“Bob was a larger-than-life figure in the law school for many years,” said his former colleague Arthur Hellman, now professor emeritus, who arrived at Pitt in the middle of Harper’s first Pitt Law post as the school’s assistant dean (1973-77). “He was one of the most engaged teachers we've ever had at the law school, because he loved being with students and talking to students.”