Jack Fuchs has recently retired after teaching general chemistry and analytical instrumentation for 55 years at ASU. During his tenure Dr. Fuchs has watched ASU grow from a small state college to one of the largest universities in the country.

ASU President Michael Crow described Fuchs as a living legend. “Fifty-five years of great teaching from a great person”, Crow said via email. “Jack is engaged on many fronts at ASU, including being a longtime season-ticket holding football fan. He represents the best of college teaching and dedication”.

"I have followed two basic principles throughout my life and have applied them equally to my primary career as a scientist and teacher, my secondary career as a musician, and to my leisure time activities. First, enjoy whatever it is you are doing, not only for the moment, but for a lifetime if necessary. It is easy to be happy on the day when a difficult research problem is finally solved or a great symphony is performed before an appreciative audience. But what about the countless days when experiment after experiment proves fruitless, or the hours of repetitious rehearsal necessary to perfect the final concert performance? Second, work to satisfy yourself. Of course it is possible to set low standards for yourself, but, if you are truly honest with yourself, it will likely be much more difficult to perform up to your own expectations than those of others. However, if you succeed in so doing, then you will experience a justifiable feeling of pride and personal satisfaction in your accomplishments be they in the laboratory, the classroom, the concert hall, or on the tennis court. " -Jack Fuchs

John Holloway, geochemist, retires after 38 years at ASU. But retirement doesn’t mean he’s leaving the field…rather it means he will be able to concentrate his efforts on the things he likes best. The subjects he covers range from explosive volcanism to the nature of minerals in the deep Earth and Mars, to abiotic synthesis in seafloor hydrothermal systems ("black smokers").

John has always brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to his research, which has been in the realm of applied physical chemistry at moderate to high pressures and temperatures. Austen Angell, who worked with him on one of his numerous high impact (Nature and Science) reports said, “John Holloway is one of the most enjoyable colleagues I have known. To John, big problems are a high level game, which we are in to win. John tackles research challenges with a grin…the tougher the problem the brighter the gleam in his eyes”.

He has mentored some 18 students to their PhDs. and his lab has always been full of post-docs and visitors. He has marketed his own brand of high pressure apparatus, been important in launching new collaborative initiatives like the original and ASU's successful NSF Material Research Group, and facilities like the Chemistry Department's high pressure laboratory, and has always been willing to help people interested in high pressure problems to find their way. It was John who, for instance, showed Qing Zheng, now the chief scientist of the US army, how to make controlled density inclusions of water in crystals so that water could be studied at negative pressures.

But much of the time John has been a bit hard to find, as he liked to be off in the field, down some volcano in South America, or checking out one of the black smokers in the mid-Atlantic ridge system. We are happy he will still be around some of the time. His knowledge of materials and techniques, not to mention his infectious smile, would be sorely missed if he really left us.

Dan has been the Director of the Protein Chemistry Laboratory since its inception in 1989. Since that time he has helped hundreds of researchers on and off this campus to realize their research goals. Everyone who has ever worked with or for Dan has found him to be eager to help in any way possible. In his quiet unassuming manner, they have found a quick wit, agile intellect and encyclopedic knowledge of the field of protein biochemistry. Dan doesn't just want to know the steps and procedure of how something is done, but the why and how. This is something he is also always happy to share with others as he helps them understand their own research. The lab has always had a policy of "recycle and reuse", so it is not surprising that he has chosen to pursue a second career in alternative fuels research.

Dan Brune: " My guiding philosophical objectives while working at ASU were (1) to learn new techniques useful to conducting research related to my long-standing interests in plants and photosynthetic microorganisms and (2) to help other researchers, particularly students, to obtain reliable data as quickly and efficiently as possible for their own research. My work as an academic professional in charge of an instrumentation facility allowed me to learn many new techniques, including protein sequencing, peptide synthesis, and mass spectrometry. In order to keep informed about the best methods for using facility equipment, I performed several small research projects of my own using facility equipment, often with student collaborators, and participated in professional meetings where technical issues were discussed.. While departmental facilities are primarily service laboratories for other researchers, they also serve an important educational function, and I have tried to involve student researchers in the work of the facility as it relates to their own research so that they also learn how to use facility equipment as a part of their graduate training. Now that I have retired, I am hoping to apply what I have learned to research related to photosynthesis."