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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Roy Arthur Axford, Sc.D., of Urbana,
4who passed away on March 10, 2021; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford was born in Detroit to Charlotte
6Donaldson Paulson and Roy Paulson on August 26, 1928; he was
7later adopted by his mother's second husband, Morgan Axford;
8he received his Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Williams
9College and his Bachelor of Science in General Science from
10MIT in June 1952; he married Anne Sophie Langfeldt Rasmussen
11on April 1, 1954, and she preceded him in death on September
1220, 2017; he received his Master of Science in Nuclear
13Engineering from MIT in June 1955; he became the first student
14to earn his Doctor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from MIT
15in February 1958; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford worked as a nuclear engineer for the
17Technical Research Group Inc. in New York in 1958 and as a
18supervisor for the Theoretical Physics Group, Atomics
19International in Canoga Park, California from 1958 to 1960;
20subsequently, he entered the academic community for the rest
21of his career; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford's academic appointments included

 

 

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1associate professor of Nuclear Engineering from 1960 to 1962
2and professor of Nuclear Engineering from 1962 to 1963 at
3Texas A&M University, associate professor of Nuclear
4Engineering from 1963 to 1966 at Northwestern University, and
5associate professor of Nuclear Engineering from 1966 to 1968,
6professor of Nuclear Engineering from 1968 to August 2017 and
7professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at
8Urbana-Champaign; during his 51 years of teaching at the
9University of Illinois, he mentored numerous master's degree
10students and 54 doctoral students; he advised students, served
11on many university committees, and received numerous teaching
12honors; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford also served as a consultant; starting
14in 1963, he spent 44 summers as a consultant at the Los Alamos
15National Laboratory (LANL), X-Division, Theoretical and
16Computational Physics in Los Alamos, New Mexico; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford belonged to a number of professional
18societies, including the American Nuclear Society, which named
19him a fellow in 2018; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford was preceded in death by his wife of 63
21years, Anne; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Dr. Axford is survived by his children, Roy

 

 

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1(Sarah), Trevor (Cyndi), and Elizabeth; his grandchildren,
2Noah, Charlie, Madison, and Mackenzie; his cousins, Pete
3Donaldson and Jay Chandler (Fleur); and his nieces, nephews,
4and cousins in the U.S. and Norway; therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
6ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
7Roy Arthur Axford, Sc.D. and extend our sincere condolences to
8his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
9further
 
10    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
11presented to the family of Dr. Axford as an expression of our
12deepest sympathy.