March 8, 2007

Obituary: Fred Basolo helped guide chemistry department

Fred Basolo, 87, of Glenview, professor emeritus of chemistry, died Feb. 27 at the Midwest Palliative and Hospice Care Center, Skokie, from congestive heart failure.

Visitation was March 2 at Donnellan Family Funeral Home, Skokie. Funeral Mass was said March 3 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Glenview. Interment was in All Saints Cemetery.

Mr. Basolo joined Northwestern in 1946 after working on a classified military research project during WWII. He is credited with helping make the chemistry department a leader in inorganic chemistry.

Mr. Basolo, who was named the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in 1980, was internationally recognized for his original contributions to the syntheses and reaction mechanisms of transition-metal Werner complexes, and he did some of the seminal work in the developing fields of organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry. His work has been published in more than 400 scientific publications, and he was the author of four books.

He served as president of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1983 and as Chairman of the Chemistry Section of American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1979.

Mr. Basolo was preceded in death by his wife, Mary P. He is survived by three daughters, Mary Catherine (John) Kunzer, Margaret Ann (Gary) Silkaitis and Elizabeth Rose (Bob) Pionke; a son, Fred Jr. (Marcia); and 11 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Midwest Palliative and Hospice CareCenter, 2050 Claire Ct., Glenview, Ill. 60025 or American Heart Association, 3816 Paysphere Circle, Chicago, IL 60674.