The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) mourns the passing of John Baldwin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of chemistry.

Remembered as a dynamic scholar of physical organic chemistry, Baldwin was a pioneer in utilizing density functional theory to gain insight into chemical bonding and reaction mechanisms. He published more than 150 articles over the course of his career, and continued to publish important works up until his retirement, including articles in the , the  and the .

A Promising Beginning

John Baldwin

Baldwin was born in 1937 in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Oak Park, Pennsylvania. According to his obituary, he was an exceedingly well-rounded student, excelling in many sports and becoming valedictorian of his high school class at Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1955. He continued both his studies and his athleticism at Dartmouth College, participating on the ski, lacrosse and track teams, and once again becoming valedictorian of his class in 1959. He earned his doctorate in physics and chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in 1963.

Baldwin began his career as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was recognized through an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, associate membership of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He soon transitioned to the University of Oregon as a full professor, where he spent 16 years. Baldwin then joined Syracuse University’s chemistry department as the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowed Professor of Science in 1984, where he was to spend the next 40, very productive years.

From the start of his career, Baldwin developed a reputation for excellence, as a scholar and researcher, but also interpersonally; he was a generous collaborator, teacher and mentor. Baldwin became known for successfully addressing highly challenging questions regarding organic reactions by applying rigorous methods with exacting measurements and careful analysis, and by combining the experimental work with molecular computations.

This work, as well as its history and development, was summarized by Baldwin himself in a seminal Chemical Reviews (2003) article. A collaborator recently was quoted as saying, “When John’s illness prevented him from communicating his creative thoughts about reaction mechanisms and science more broadly, a large hole was created in the field of physical organic chemistry, a hole that no one has since been able to fill. He has been irreplaceable.” Another colleague says, “Having been impressed and amazed by John’s published work, I was excited to start my career in the same department. John was always a treasured colleague, both for his expertise and for his personal approach, always with caring, kindness and friendship.”

A Career of Accolades

Baldwin was instrumental in bringing the Life Sciences Complex project to fruition.

Baldwin’s service to the field and the University were extensive. He served on the President’s Science Advisory Committee; the Medicinal Chemistry Study Section of the National Institutes of Health; the National Science Foundation’s Chemistry Division Standing Review Panel; the executive committee of the American Chemical Society Division of Organic Chemistry; and the Advisory Board of the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. He received the American Chemical Society’s James Flack Norris Award in 2010, as well as awards from the John Simon Guggenheim and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundations.

In addition to his teaching and research, he led Syracuse University’s chemistry department as chair for many years and played a pivotal role in the lobbying for the Life Sciences Complex, which opened in 2008. Baldwin contributed to the facility’s ultimate design, resulting in all new teaching labs and research space for chemistry. He received the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence, was awarded a Distinguished Professor title, and graduated more than 10 Syracuse University Ph.D. students from his lab before retiring and earning emeritus status in 2014. His graduate students remember him as a thoughtful listener and a mentor whose gentle and respectful manner fostered their development.

In 2017, Chancellor Kent Syverud (left) honored employees who marked milestone anniversaries in 2016. Professors Sarah “Sally” Short (center) and Jack Graver were celebrated for 50 years of service to the University.

By 1975, Sarah “Sally” Short, Ph.D., Ed.D., was already a legend on the Syracuse University campus.

But on Jan. 3, 1975, she became world famous when an article appeared in The New York Times describing her unique teaching methods. The story included a photo of Short on a motorcycle—the same one she rode down the stairs of the Newhouse School of Public Communications and into her lecture room as her surefire way to grab the students’ attention.

“Dr. Short was my favorite professor back in the late 1960s,” Meredith “Mary” Moses Maxwell ’70 said in a 2020 social media post for the . “Her classes were exciting, from being rewarded for correct answers with candy, to being greeted—often by name—walking across campus. I was in the famous class that was welcomed in Newhouse’s basement auditorium by the unmistakable sounds, smells and sight of a motorcycle entering and driving down the aisle by none other than Dr. Short.”

On Jan. 3, 1975, The New York Times published a feature story on Short that included this iconic photograph taken by Anestis Diakopoulos. “She was a wonderfully vibrant and exciting person to know,” Diakopoulos says. “She charmed many a student with an unprecedented teaching style, even for the 1970s.”

Short, who joined the Syracuse University faculty in 1966 and taught an estimated 55,000 students, died in late July, about two months shy of her 100th birthday. A professor emerita in the Falk College, Short taught various nutrition courses, including Nutrition in Health, Sport Nutrition and Dietary Supplements, and several other courses at Syracuse. She retired in 2016 after a half-century in higher education.

“I had the opportunity to co-teach the large Nutrition in Health class with Dr. Short and was able to see how she valued engaging students,” says , associate professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. “She was innovative in her pedagogy and loved storytelling to teach about nutrition. She was also passionate about sports nutrition and had conducted research in examining the dietary intake of athletes at Syracuse University.”

Following the article in The New York Times, Short brought national attention to Syracuse University and the concepts of nutrition and sports nutrition through countless newspaper and magazine interviews and appearances on television shows such as “Today,” “Good Morning America” and “Real People.”

“A few weeks (after the article), my older brother serving in Vietnam wrote and asked if I knew anything about this ‘crazy’ SU teacher,” Moses Maxwell said in 2020. “He’d seen a picture and article about the stunt in the Saigon Times. I was so proud to be her student. She was the ultimate teacher and a role model for my teaching and counseling career.”

Connecting With Youth

Numerous former students recount memorable classes that earned Short the moniker “Psychedelic Sally.” But theatrics aside, Short had a remarkable knack of connecting with younger generations.

, teaching professor and graduate director in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, was a teaching assistant in Short’s Food Science class for two years during Raj’s doctoral program. Raj says Short was “very empathetic” with her students and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them.

“She was a legend in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association), and several FNCE (Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo) attendees—noticing my Syracuse University badge—have inquired over the years about Dr. Short,” Raj says. “Many were her students, and others had heard about her bringing her motorbike into the classroom.

“I fondly remember her giving me newspaper clippings of my children’s achievements in the Fayetteville Manlius School District, and she always celebrated their successes with us,” Raj adds. “I will miss her annual Christmas greetings and her smiling demeanor.”

, associate professor and undergraduate director in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, says Short’s ability to connect with youth extended to Voss’ daughter, Elise, who was 7 when she first met Short. Elise recently graduated from Nottingham High School (Short’s alma mater) in June, 100 years after Short’s birth in 1924.

Sarah “Sally” Short

“Elise idolized her,” Voss says. “Sally had an uncanny sense of knowing whenever Elise was alone in my office. She would quickly scoop Elise into her office before I returned, and they would have Oreo tea parties and Sally would tell Elise tales of when Ed Smith (Pre-K-8 School) first opened.

“I would eventually find Elise tucked into the pillows on the daybed in Sally’s office,” Voss continues. “What a sweet connection over an impressive generational gap. Sally lived a great life and made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of young folks. It’s a lovely legacy.”

A Lifelong New Yorker

Born in Little Falls, New York, Sarah Harvey moved with her family at the age of 4 into a house in Syracuse that was just two houses away from her future husband, Walter Allen Short. They both graduated from Nottingham High School—Walter in 1945 and Sally in 1946—and were blessed with three children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Short earned doctor of philosophy and doctor of education degrees from Syracuse University and taught at Upstate Medical University in addition to Syracuse University. She received several awards for her research and teaching, was a fellow of the American Dietetic Association.

For Short’s full obituary, visit the .