Ruth Cade, the first women to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Mississippi State University and a former faculty member at the University of Southern Mississippi, died on February 15 at a hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She was 77 years old.
Dr. Cade was a native of Benton, Mississippi. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Mississippi State in 1963 and master’s degree and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Alabama. Dr. Cade taught mathematics and computer science at the University of Southern Mississippi, beginning in 1968. She later taught in the university’s School of Engineering Technology, retiring in 2003 after 35 years on the university’s faculty.