Obituary

Special Issue of the J. Mex. Chem. Soc. in Honor of Dr. Lars Hellberg (1930-2011)

Professor of Chemistry at the San Diego State University, San Diego and Centro de Graduados e Investigacion, Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana, died on February 8, 2011 of pneumonia.

Born in Chicago in 1930 to Swidish immigrants. Lars earned a bachelor's at Northwestern University in Chicago, and a doctorate in chemistry at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1956. Lars taught organic chemistry at the San Diego State University for 36 years. His 6-foot, 7-inch frame, sweet demeanor, pop quizzes and ability to write chemical equations with his left hand while erasing the blackboard with right hand made him a standout on the San Diego State University campus.

In 1980, Lars joined the faculty at Centro de Graduados e Investigación, Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana, he was one of the pioneers at the center and played a major role in developing the organic chemistry curriculum. He retired from SDSU in 1992, and continued teaching at the center until 2006. In all, he served the center for 25 years. During this period, his greatest joy was teaching organic chemistry to the first year graduate students and collaborating with faculties doing research. Students loved his "Spanglish" accent and dedication. Lars was not only a dedicated teacher, he was a fatherly figure to many, and helped many of the less privileged students. He trained several doctoral and masters students at the Center, many of whom are in teaching profession around the country. In the early days of the Center, Lars played a major role in acquiring, library books, chemical abstracts, journals, spectroscopic data, glass ware, chemicals and instruments for the Center. Today's good standing of the Center among the various research centers in Mexico, can only be attributed to Lars's dedication to teaching and research. The Center is in ever debt and grateful to his yeoman services.

Lars is survived by wife Lois, sons Michael, Daniel and daughter Sara. He will be dearly missed by the students and faculty at the Center.

Students, Staff and Faculty. Centro de Graduados
e Investigación.
Tijuana, Baja California. February, 2011.