Jane Raymond, who served on the chemistry department faculty at the California Institute of Technology for more than three decades, died recently at the age of 80.
A native of Portland Oregon, Dr. Raymond was a graduate of Reed College, where she majored in chemistry and mathematics. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Raymond began her career in academia at her alma mater, Reed College, where she taught both chemistry and mathematics. She later taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology in 1977. She retired in 2009.
John Bercaw, Centennial Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, stated that “Jane’s fierce dedication to our students and her insistence on providing the best possible laboratory experience for them were widely recognized. She was an uncompromising advocate for excellence in managing the lab facilities and instrumentation, updating curricula, delivering lectures, and training new graduate students and upper-level undergraduates to be effective teaching assistants for the courses.”
We were classmates and very dear friends at Reed.
We were both in the orchestra — she was a fabulous violinist and
the concert master. I played first clarinet. I admit to having had a
very big crush on her. I am very sad to hear that she has
passed away.