Leslie DiVerdi, a former professor of physical chemistry at Colorado State University, died in Rochester, New York, after a 12-year battle with frontotemporal dementia. She was 63 years old.
Dr. DiVerdi grew up in Pittsford, New York, just south of Rochester. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1974 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981.
Dr. DiVerdi took early retirement from Colorado State University, due to her illness and moved back to upstate New York. A scholarship for graduate students in chemistry has been established in her honor at Colorado State University.