Behrouz Tabarrok died unexpectedly on April 20, 1999, at the age of 60
years. Bez - as he was affectionately known - had been serving as the
Canadian Director of the American Academy of Mechanics. He had previously
served as the Chair of the Canadian National Committee of IUTAM (1980-93),
and as a member of the IUTAM Congress Committee (1988-1996). He was also
involved with numerous
other professional organizations. He was on the editorial boards of at
least 7 journals, a member of several professional organizations and often
served on their executive committees. Notably, he was President of the
Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (1993-94), Chair of the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Grant Selection Committee
for Mechanical Engineering (1994-95), and Chair of the Canadian Congress of
Applied Mechanics (CANCAM) Central Committee. The 1999 CANCAM Award was
presented to him in recognition of his achievements.
Bez was born in Teheran, but he left his home and country for boarding
school in England at age 13. He never lived in Iran again, but over the
years, he returned as a visiting scholar and to see his family.
On April 20, 1963, Bez married Carolyn Croft. Two years later he was
awarded a D. Phil. from Oxford University. The couple had the opportunity
to come to Canada in 1965, when Bez became an Assistant Professor of
Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto.
He is survived by three children. His son Alex was born in 1966, followed
by Nicholas in 1968. Jeremy was born in 1970 in Hanover, Germany, where
Bez was visiting on an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship.
Through the 1970s and 80s, Bez was an active teacher, scholar and
consultant, rose to Full Professor, and received many fellowships and other
honors. When the University of Victoria in British Columbia decided to
create a Faculty of Engineering, Bez was selected to become the founding
Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1987.
Moving to Victoria from Toronto was a major change for him and his family,
but they quickly made this community home and began building many cherished
friendships.
Bez remained Department Chair for a decade, during which he devoted his
tremendous energy, good will and sense of humor to building an excellent
department. One of the things that impressed many was how he would put his
own career needs second so that younger faculty members would have greater
opportunities. In 1993, he was pleased to have co-authored a book with his
good friend Fred Rimrott, called Variational Methods and Complementary
Formulations in Dynamics. His research contributions covered a wide span
of topics, ranging from his early interest in variational methods to his
more recent applications to logging truck dynamics and the modeling of
crystal growth. He produced excellent fundamental research while
simultaneously promoting the practical applications of mechanics to
industrial problems.
Just in the last year, Bez took on a new position as Executive Director of
the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems. Typically, he described this
job (a major career shift that might have frightened others), as ``great fun.''
Bez was a great socializer. He loved entertaining, get-togethers, cookouts
and dinner parties. Over the years, many thousands of students and friends
enjoyed his and Carolyn's hospitality.
Bez Tabarrok has left a strong legacy; many former students from around the
world attest to his teaching and dedication. Bez expected from other
people the traits that he himself exhibited: good will, fairness, modesty,
maturity, principled courage, and a sense of the ridiculous. He will be
greatly missed by all who knew him.
Comments and Suggestions to mech1@clifton.mech.northwestern.edu