Dear Arts & Sciences Faculty & Staff,

I am writing with a heavy heart to announce that beloved physics professor Marcus McEllistrem II passed away on Friday, June 14.  Dr. McEllistrem was an esteemed faculty member in the Department of Physics & Astronomy from 1957 until his retirement in 1994, and was a mentor and teacher to generations of students during his distinguished 38-year history at UK. He was awarded the title of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2008 in recognition of his exceptional scholarly contributions and extraordinary service to the University, and we inducted him into the A&S Hall of Fame in 2013.

A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dr. McEllistrem earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He led the design and construction of the Van de Graaff Particle Accelerator Laboratory in Physics, which has been used for research in nuclear physics for over five decades, as well as for homeland security and corporate applications. He was awarded over 50 years of research funding from the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, and was an invited guest scientist at many prestigious institutions and laboratories, such as the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Notre Dame University, and Bruyères le Châtel, CEA, France.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggested memorial gifts be made to the Marcus T. McEllistrem Summer Fellowship Fund to supports summer research for outstanding graduate students in the department. Online gifts can be made here or you can sent a contribution to UK Gift Receiving, 210 Malabu Dr., Suite 200, Lexington, KY 40502.

Dr. McEllistrem was an excellent scholar, teacher and mentor, and will be sorely missed by all.

Yours,
Mark