In Memorium: Prof. Emeritus Wayland E. Noland (1926-2022)

with UMN Outstanding Achievement Award recipient Jeannette Brown (M.S. 1958), namesake of the department's Jeannette Brown Lecture

submitted by a Noland group alum from 2014-2016: "I remember when I went into his office for the first time to hear about the lab opening. He had books and papers piled so high I was standing up so he could see me. He goes, no you can sit down I don't need to see you to know whether I want you to work in my lab. Instead we talked about why I wanted to be a Chemist, my background story, and who I was as woman of color in science. I remember when he said welcome to the lab and I was so excited. He always inspired me to do better with being kind to planet, other people, and my pursuit of science. He was a wonderful mentor and and kind human."

90th Birthday in December 2016 with Noland research group members

I have a lot of great memories working in the Noland lab as an undergraduate. I am so thankful for my invaluable experiences that I had there. Dr. Noland- he had such a positive impact. I loved hearing his stories and tidbits of information. He always let his personality shine thru. I remember going into his office for a quick question and it usually led to a longer talk (chalk in my hand) working thru the mechanisms on his office chalk board. At group meetings he would ask tough questions, “How do you make that starting material?” He always saw my full potential and encouraged me to apply for research fellowships and different scholarships. One summer, my research was funded by Pfizer. We both got to attend an undergraduate research symposium at their research facility where I presented a poster. It was great to have his support, and I will never forget that experience. He will be missed by so many!

submitted by a Noland group alum from 1998-2000: "I loved working for and with Dr. Noland. He wrote a recommendation letter for me for medical school and another of his former students saw it and said, "If you impressed him than you impress me!" I am so grateful for his guidance and support while in undergraduate studies at the U of MN"

former Institute of Technology dean Ettore "Jim" Infante, former UMN president Nils Hasselmo and Prof. Noland at a UM Foundation event

with Gregg Vandesteeg of 3M (Ph.D. 1977)

I personally don't have pics with Prof. Noland, but for sure he long lives in my memory.

He was on my three-member committee when I started graduate school in 2013. He was "old" then, but remained well smart and sharp. Yep, he corrected my nomenclature of organic compounds on that first meeting, at which time I landed in the US for like 3 or 4 days :-)

I met him second time a few days after that, on a bus (#3 if I recall correctly). I was like a lost deer then, and not confident which stop to get off. "You can follow me, I go where you go", he blinked at me. Then we chatted quit a lot, albeit my then immature English. He already stopped driving at that time, and relied on public transit to go to his lab every day. Yep, I was surprised that he still had a lab. He's a good listener, and helps.

We encountered countless times during my PhD years in UMN. He picked up disposed plastic bottles, and solely funded a fellowship in the chemistry department. I tried to help him once, as he was "old", but he turned it down. I guess he didn't like to share the fundraiser-ship :-)

I TAed for him for 2 semesters, and we talked quite often during that year. He has no children. He went to the same university where his parents served as faculty and where one building was named after his father. He joined the army during WWII, and was sent to a boot camp, but didn't' have the chance to land on Japan. He was supposed to serve as a medic on the battle field, but was caught by tuberculosis and recovered well (hopefully I remember this detail right). His family was from Ireland as of the potato famine, while "no more family from me on". Of course, we talked mostly about organic chemistry. He was knowledgeable and willing to share.

I have way more than these in my memory, and they are impressive and vivid as they just happened seconds ago.

I said goodbye to him when I earned my degree and left the US. We both very well know that this sad news can come any time, but still I was deeply saddened by it. Prof. Noland deserves a real good place up there, and there must be his favorite orange juice. Yep, He likes drinking orange juice, and falls asleep peacefully upon drinking the juice, as always :-)


1999. A chilly evening, early Fall. Walking to the Coffman bus stop after physics class, around 7PM. Passing Smith Hall I glanced up and thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to wear a lab coat in my high school senior photo?" Maybe somebody would still be around at this hour who would answer a knock from a strange teenager and let them run off with one of their lab coats for a couple of weeks. Well, no luck on the first two floors.


The third floor greeted me with a beacon. A slice of light knifed from the left corner across the hallway, diffusely reflecting off what turned out to be bromine-stained tiles. A door was propped open. No closed door could contain the heart of the man inside. Greeted with a friend's welcome, an entire rack of used but carefully cleaned lab coats had been collected over the years, proudly displayed in wait for a moment such as this.


Dr Noland remembered me the next fall when I was in his section of Chem2302. On the spot, he offered me a research project. Four years later, I hung up that lab coat, which I had at some point adorned with the structure of indole in 700-point font. Six years later yet, he welcomed me once again into his lab for graduate study. I pulled a different coat off that rack.


I had the privilege to watch him give about 100 students each their own custom-tailored lab coat story. I believe that many of you reading this can still hear the beckon of that propped door. It never failed to invite us to step into something remarkable.

Wayland was famous for his dumpster diving routine. Every morning, he made his rounds on his way to the lab. One of my classmates, in fact, first met him while he was in the dumpster behind Smith/Kolthoff Halls. One particular memory I have of him revolves around his integrity. He found a wallet in a dumpster on one of those bright fall mornings up in Minnesota. The wallet still had money and cards in it, so how ever it found its way into the dumpster, it wasn’t because it was stolen and tossed. Wayland either pulled out an old phone book from somewhere in those piles that were always in his office or maybe he asked Sue, his secretary at the time, for a phone book. Whichever way, he found the man’s number, then called him, and returned the wallet to him with everything in it. Wayland will be remembered for a lot of things. One of those is he was always honest with the highest integrity.

-Mike


I came to the U as an undergraduate in the mid-90's, set on a chemistry major without really knowing what chemistry was. Wayland's Organic II class was the first time I was challenged to think about reaction mechanisms instead of just memorizing. I remember picking up my final in his over-flowing office, and him encouraging me to continue studying chemistry. That was the first such encouragement I ever got, at least in my memory, and that comment had a massive impact on my life's path.

When I returned as a post-doc 6-7 years later, he remembered me -- one of the very few who did. We chatted, and he ended up coming by my lab later with a photocopied page from an old treatise -- McIlvane, from the 1950s -- with a recipe for the Bechamp reduction of nitroarenes. And it did read like a recipe, very much unlike the modern literature preps I was used to. I still have that photocopy today, and that reduction always works like a charm.

Now that I'm the old man teaching Organic II to nervous young people, I think about Wayland often, and how a little openness and kindness can have such a lasting impact. RIP.

There is reference to the summer cabin trips...I believe I was the first generation of this trip. Way had offered up the trip to several group members with no takers, but my parents had vacationed on lake Bertha and I knew the area. I asked Way if a couple friends (non group members) could join-he knew both of them as they would stop by the lab to see if I was in. So myself and 'the 2 Johns' made the trip and joined Way. We took him fishing (would occasionally covertly put back the small ones when he wasn't looking (no fish was too small to eat)) and all in all had a great time.

I remember the kindness he showed when he gave me the news my grandfather had died...my mom could not reach me (pre-cell days) and called the lab phone as a last resort.

I went to graduate school in Madison...he would call me when he would occasionally come to town as he mother was still alive. We would chat on the phone for a long time...a bit of a mystery as I would say we should just meet-'no, we can just chat on the phone'. One of his quirks I guess.

I came back to The Twins to visit my mom a few years ago and drove over to campus on a Saturday to have a look. I found my way into Smith Hall and knew he would be there...I think I frightened him a bit but when I said my name he instantly smiled and we spent the next two hours reminiscing and discussing the myriad topics that were always on the table.

A kind, smart and odd fellow...a fine mentor and good friend.


Paul Vosejpka, BA Chemistry, 1985.

How well I remember that office! I worked as an intern for Dr. Noland, and in the compound screening program. I also organized his various investments in the mid-90s. In those days he was known around campus as being eccentric, collecting recyclables in his brown station wagon, and hunting along the river for scrap iron that he could return for $.01 / pound. It was rumored that he was independently wealthy, but only a few of us ever saw the extent of the portfolio, and never spoke about it. He certainly needn't have worked but loved the U, students, and his Indoles. I will always remember him for being exceptionally kind, patient and an all around great Mensch. Whenever I see MacNeil Lehrer Newshour I think about him.

So sad to hear of his passing and not surprised he had lived to a very prestigious age, and the longest tenured prof at the U. I will turn a glass down for him tonight (although I know he did not drink).

Ryan

Biochemistry, Class of 1996

Please share thoughts, memories and stories about Prof. Noland

serving as mace-bearer at commencement

Prof. Noland is the reason I chose to attend the U of M for graduate school. I was torn between several schools, but during my trip to the spring ACS meeting in San Diego, Prof. Noland sought me out at my poster. He came walking up with his great big smile and said, "I hear you're interested in attending the University of Minnesota. What can I do to help convince you?" I said, "I think you just did it. I'm so impressed that you took the time to visit my poster and chat with me at this huge meeting." Once I arrived home, I accepted the offer to attend the U of M, and I loved every minute of it! ❤️

Prof. Noland, you will be greatly missed. ❤️

Prof. Noland at his 1948 Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate commencement, with his father Lowell Evan Noland, Prof of Zoology at UW-Madison

What to say about the inimitable Professor Noland - one of the kindest people I knew during my time in the department? I remember we would chat while waiting for the bus outside Kolthoff Hall and they were always stimulating conversations. But what I particularly remember was after I accepted an offer from The Dow Chemical Company he sought me out in the hallway one day to offer his congratulations and to tell me that he thought I'd do well there. I don't know how he had found out about where I was headed, and it certainly wasn't something he had to do, but it just typifies the thoughtfulness and care for others that came so naturally to him. He will be sorely missed. - Victor Sussman

2002 commencement (L-R) Prof. Wayland E. Noland, Prof. Gary Gray, former department chair and associate dean Prof. Wayne Gladfelter, former department chair Larry Miller, Prof. Marc Hillmyer

submitted by a Noland group alum from 2004-2006: "Dr. Noland was the only professor willing to give me a chance to prove my research mettle, late in my degree-game, as I decided to pursue my Ph. D. degree in Chemistry. He was an amazing, giving, UNIQUE character that I am so grateful to have in my life’s chapters!"

I’ll remember, near the end of 2nd quarter Organic Chem, being in the hallway of an upper floor in Smith Hall, with Dr. Noland standing a ways down the hallway saying to me out of the blue, “Tom, I’m giving you an A in lab.” At the time I didn’t understand why, but I think he knew I was struggling mightily in lecture (taught by a colleague) and decided to encourage me and reward my efforts in lab. Maybe I was actually earning it or not. I don’t really know. I just vividly remember that encounter and his kind disposition.

I retook 2nd quarter lecture from him and earned a B. I enjoyed his lecture. He helped me understand the material.

Blessed be his memory.

with former Noland group member and UMN alumnus and Outstanding Achievement Award recipient Reuben Rieke (B.S. 1961), Regents Prof. Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and founder of Rieke Metals

I had the pleasure to interview Prof. Noland for this piece in fall 2018 that appeared in our Fall 2018 college magazine to alumni and donors (republish online here: https://cse.umn.edu/college/feature-stories/92-and-counting) ... he was generous with his knowledge and stories, and our hourlong conversation ranged from super serious to laugh-out-loud funny. He was a wise man, a patient man, a man who had seen a lot and knew a lot, but he was not an arrogant man. He was a man I am so grateful to have met! Rest in peace, dear professor. — pauline

One of the summer cabin trips in year 2011.


I still remember when I stepped into his office for the first time. I only saw mountains of papers. He was sitting behind those papers, and I could barely see his head.

I had never heard of Dr Noland saying ‘no’ to students who wish to join his research team. That doesn’t mean he didn’t spend time and effort on every student who knocked on his door to get his guidance. Whenever I brought my report to him, he would carefully read it on the spot. With a pencil, he underlined the words as he read, and made notes for me to correct later.

One time, I was standing behind him while he was checking my report. I watched the underlines ‘derail’. It took me a while before I realized he had fallen asleep. Because of his age, I was worried, but unsure if I should wake him up. When I did, he told me that he tended to fall asleep after a meal. He then end the explanation with a laugh.

Dr Noland had many stories to tell. For example, how he used to wash his hands with benzene during the good old days.

Dr Noland’s lab was a refuge for students like myself. It wasn’t easy to be an international student, especially after graduation. When he found out that I couldn’t find a job after a few months trying, he offered me a temporary position in his lab. That helped me support myself while I’m hunting for other job. There’s one important skill I learnt from working in his lab that applies anywhere—how to solve a problem with limited and precious resource.

As a teacher, he had opened doors and paved ways for his students. It’s amazing to see the legacy he left us with.

Thank you, Dr Noland. You will be greatly missed. 💐💐💐

I worked at Prof. Noland’s group for two summer’s UROP from 2011-2013 and that’s the most inspiring experiences I had during my undergraduate study at the U of M. He encouraged his students to think out of the box for the research, and he was always there to help out when we got stuck. He was the only professor who was willing to give me the research opportunity as I was only a second year undergraduate student with limited research experiences.

I remembered there was a fridge next to his office, where he put his lunch box. When I first worked at his lab, and tried to sort out the places to store and fridge the chemical samples, he joked that “Be careful not to mix up your samples with my lunch box, it’s possible that I took the wrong one.”

the Noland bobblehead created for this 80th birthday celebration in 2006

with his sister Ruth Campbell at Prof. Noland's 80th birthday celebration in 2006

The picture above is of Professor Noland at the celebration of Jeannette Brown's Outstanding Achievement Award in 2005. I cannot count the number of times that I have met people who remember and ask about Professor Noland. On a recent visit to my physician, I discovered that he did undergraduate research with Professor Noland.

with former UMN president Robert Bruininks and former Department of Chemistry chair Prof. Jeff Roberts

One of his trophies from the lake, 2011. Behind him was Kenneth Tritch.