Missing a Friend and a Mentor

One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of my (Dave here) time at Michigan was working with and learning from my structures professor, John Taylor. John taught one of the most challenging courses I took as an aerospace engineering student at Michigan, and he did it without a text and seemingly in stream of consciousness.

But the learning really started after I completed John's series of undergraduate courses. John was a principled man, with deeply held convictions about social justice and the responsible use of both the Earth's resources and scientific advancement. I spent many Saturday mornings protesting French nuclear testing with John, his dog (a hungarian sheepdog), and my friends Dan Bonn and Jae-Jae Spoon. I am sure our protest played little role in France's decision to stop testing nukes, but that year of Saturdays had a major impact on my life. John had a habit of answering questions (particularly those seeking life advice) with a question that forced you to reach beyond yourself for an answer. And John served as a mentor and father-figure at several times in my life when I needed them.

After I left Ann Arbor, John and I stayed in touch periodically. When I made it back to A2 I often visited him, although not as frequently as I should have. But even when we were not talking frequently, I thought of him often and often used his imagined voice as a morality check. Last summer, I reestablished contact again and John told me that he had a very stubborn cancer. We exchanged some emails and promises to get together, and I offered him any help I could give, without taking any action to actually help him. Unfortunately, we never actually connected. Last week, I learned that John passed away in October. I wish I had taken the time out of just one day to make the short trip to visit John. I was very busy at the time, of course, but now that there are no more chances to see John -- no opportunities to make sure he knew the impact he had on me -- I wish I had made the time.

Rereading this post, I see that there may be larger lessons to draw from this post and there are many other special things that I could share about John (he was a real character), but this post is not meant for either of those reasons. It just helps my sense of loss and disappointment to share something about my friend and my mentor. Along that line, here is the UM Aero's obit for John:


John E. Taylor
(1931– 2005)
John E. Taylor, Professor Emeritus
of Aerospace Engineering, passed
away in October 2005. Professionally
as well as in daily life, John was
incredibly diverse, meticulous, caring,
and had a keen eye for detail.
He always took a gentle approach
and could be relied upon to provide
insight into virtually any problem. He was a craftsman
and innovator not only in the traditional sense of building
homes and creating novel devices, but also in terms of social
issues. In his early years he participated in the Free Speech
Movement at UCLA, and later was an ardent peace activist.
He volunteered at the People’s Food Coop, the Synanon
Drug Rehabilitation Program, and the Prospect Place
Homeless Shelter. He invented the “Solid Medium Thermal
Engine”, which, as he tells the story, nobody—especially
the Patent Office—believed that it would work until there
was a physical demonstration; after which the model was
retained in their collection.
John brought his unique approach to his professional
activities as well. He primarily worked in the area of optimization
with an emphasis on structures. He was internationally
known for elegant problem formulations. He developed a
special affinity for colleagues in Portugal and Denmark. A
favorite solution technique was to take a complex problem
and paradoxically appear to make it worse by removing apparently
immutable constraints. He would then proceed to introduce
a mild condition to achieve the answer with minimal
effort. Perhaps his most famous works led to the solution of
optimal compliance of a structure with completely general
topology and material properties.
John was dedicated to both the intellectual and social
development of our students. His office invariably had an
open door in which he was available for consultation on any
topic. If he asked you to sit down, and offered you a cookie,
a biscuit, or nuts then you knew your question was particularly
challenging.
Family and friends gathered for music and celebration of
John’s life at the Kerrytown Concert House on November 15,
2005. We will all sorely miss his insightful point-of-view, his
elegant and distinctive script, and his wit and friendship.