Professor Meldrum B. Winstead

 The Chemistry Department and the Bucknell community mourn the loss of Professor Emeritus Meldrum B. Winstead Jr. who passed on May 21, 2011 in Sun City West, AZ.

Prof. Winstead was a 1946 graduate of Davidson College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1952 he earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Prof. Winstead became a faculty member at Bucknell University in 1952 and retired in 1991.  In addition to his teaching, Winstead successfully involved many undergraduate students in his research. 

Especially notable was his pioneering work in fast organic reactions to incorporate the short lived ¹¹C isotope in compounds which became localized in specific organs. For this, the first Georg von Hevesy Prize given by the European Society of Nuclear Medicine in 1969 was awarded jointly to Winstead and his former student and colleague Dr. H. Saul Winchell. Throughout his career, Prof. Winstead published extensively, and several of his works continue to be cited by others. 

Sabbatical studies during his 39-year tenure included research at Chelsea College of the University of London, California Institute of Technology (under a National Institutes of Health fellowship), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Medi-Physics Inc. at Emeryville, Calif., and Israel Resources Corporation, Technion, Haifa, Israel. 

Winstead was an emeritus member of the American Chemical Society, and a charter member of the Susquehanna Valley Section of the ACS which was formed in 1958.  He was also a talented musician; he sang in several choral groups and had principal vocal roles in a number of community musical productions. 

Prof. Winstead is survived by his wife of 52 years, Merle Holden Winstead; three married children, Deborah W. McNicholas of Herndon, VA, Charles H. Winstead of Portland, OR, and Ellen M. Winstead of Houston, Texas and four grandchildren. A memorial service was held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 18, at Beaver Memorial United Methodist Church, Lewisburg, Pa.  The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions in Dr. Winstead's honor may be directed to the Chemistry Graduate Research Fund at Bucknell University.