Rajendra Rathore, Pfletschinger-Habermann Professor of Organic Chemistry at Marquette University, unexpectedly passed away on February 16, 2018, following a brief battle with respiratory disease. Dr. Rathore was a devoted husband and loving father to two daughters, and had a zeal for life that was embodied in his passion for his family, as well as for his science.
Professor Rathore received his M.Sc. in 1986 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur and earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada in 1990. He was a post-doctoral research associate (1992-1997) and a visiting assistant professor (1997-2000) at the University of Houston under the supervision of Dr. Jay K. Kochi. He joined the faculty at Marquette University in August 2000.
Dr. Rathore made key contributions to the areas of organic supramolecular and materials chemistry. He was particularly interested in the rational design and synthesis of novel electro-active molecules with applications in molecular recognition, photovoltaics, and molecular electronics. His recent work demonstrated that frontier molecular orbitals can be applied in the design and synthesis of novel electro-active species, akin to their well-known application in the rationalization of pericyclic reactions.
During Dr. Rathore’s incredibly distinguished career, he has published more than 150 articles in various respected journals, including Science, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Angewandte Chemie. He has an h-index of 35, and his research papers have been cited more than 3,700 times.
Dr. Rathore’s love for science was exceeded only by the great love and joy he felt for his family. He deeply enjoyed cooking new recipes and spending time with his three girls, and he took great pride in being an incredibly understanding and compassionate person. Raj took every step to continuously better himself, and as a result, bettered everyone around him as well. Dr. Rathore’s incredible passion for research, science, and the constant improvement of the world will live on through the Raj Rathore Memorial Lecture and annual Raj Rathore Memorial Scholarship.
Donations to the Rathore Memorial Fund can be made to Marquette University (instructions for donation can be found at http://www.marquette.edu/chem/documents/RRMemorialFund.pdf).
