Obituary of Mark N. McDermott
DOI: 10.1063/PT.4.1717
Mark N. McDermott, whom colleagues described as the ultimate good citizen of the University of Washington and who served on the physics faculty for more than 40 years before retiring a year ago, died Saturday from complications related to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Dr. McDermott, who was born in 1930 in Yakima, Washington, was a 1948 graduate of Walla Walla High School. He received a B.A. from Whitman College in 1952 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1956 and 1959, respectively.
Mark McDermott was renaissance man, said Robert Albrecht, professor emeritus of nuclear and electrical engineering. He was not one of those people whose time was spent exclusively in the lab. He was politically active, took a leadership role in the Faculty Senate (serving as chair 1997-8), sat on many advisory committees, and represented the faculty’s interests in Olympia.
Prof. McDermott is credited by his colleagues with a key role in the planning and construction of the physics/astronomy complex - one of the most successful of recent UW building programs. He was very instrumental in guiding the project to a successful completion within budget and on time. But he was modest and he always deflected credit to others, although his own contribution was great, said David Bodansky, professor emeritus of physics. The Physics Department had tried for two decades to get a new building, but nothing tangible came of these earlier efforts. After Prof. McDermott became Chair of the Physics Department in 1984 (a position in which he served until 1994), the hopes for a new building turned into a reality in a project that moved to completion on a fast track. Mark was builder, said Albrecht, He created not just a new building but contributed to the creation of whole new institutions, such as the Hanford Graduate Center. As chair, he led the physics department through a period of significant development, including the creation in 1990 of the Institute for Nuclear Theory. He also took an active part in the development in Maryland of the American Center for Physics and, in particular, the creation of the American Center for the History of Physics.
Prof. McDermott’s field of research was atomic physics. He investigated the details of the electrical and magnetic properties of the atomic nucleus and associated electrons. As a senior faculty member he continued to teach physics at the undergraduate and graduate level and had a special interest in designing and teaching laboratory courses.
As UW President Emeritus William Gerberding recently commented, Mark was one of these priceless persons who make complex institutions like universities work ... His focus was always, and without fail, on what was best for UW ... He was that rarity, a natural statesman.
Prof. McDermott is survived his wife, Lillian C. McDermott, a professor of physics at UW, his son Bruce McDermott of Seattle, his daughters Melanie Hughes McDermott and Constance McDermott, and four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a generous donation be made in memory of Mark to the AIP Center for History of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740.
Joan Valles
206-669-0715
