In Memoriam: JoDean Morrow

Emeritus Professor JoDean Morrow died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, March 25, at his home in Ajo, Arizona. He was 78 years old.The retired TAM professor was known throughout the world for introducing the strain approach to fatigue and was widely recognized for his work in low-cycle fatigue and for his pioneering leadership in the development of useful design criteria for mechanical components subjected to fatigue damage. His efforts within the former TAM Department helped establish the first servo-hydraulic fatigue-testing facility in Talbot Laboratory, which has since become one of the most prestigious research laboratories in the country for materials testing.

Morrow studied engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, before starting graduate work at the University of Illinois. After completing his doctoral work in 1957, he embarked on an academic career in the mechanical behavior of materials in the university's TAM Department, where he became a full professor in 1964.

Many of the graduate students Morrow advised went on to pursue academic careers, including three MechSE faculty: Huseyin Sehitoglu, C. J. Gauthier Professor and Department Head; Darrell Socie, research professor, and Peter Kurath, an adjunct associate professor. Morrow and his students were such leaders in the area of the strain approach to fatigue that others in the field fondly referred to them as the "Illinois mafia," and he was "definitely the Godfather," Socie recalls.

Morrow retired in 1984 after 30 years of service to the University of Illinois. He is survived by wife, Sally, sons Daniel and Teddy, and daughter, Linda.