David, Dr. Todd, or DBT, was until his passing the Senior Process Consultant of PPI, the Polymer Processing Institute. He was the oldest member of the PPI family, our

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David, Dr. Todd, or DBT, was until his passing
the Senior Process Consultant of PPI, the Polymer
Processing Institute. He was the oldest member
of the PPI family, our guru, with deep and
extensive knowledge on the whys things worked.
Yet, he was also our youngest member because, in
the words of a dear and close industrial
collaborator and friend, Tom Veariel, David had
had a young boys insatiable curiosity about
how things worked.
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During his 23 years at PPI he was DIRECTLY
involved in many industrial seminars, SPREADING
THE WORD in his inimitably simple and
enlightening way the last delivered in December
2011 on DEVOLATILIZATION. He was involved knee
deep in most of the important industrial and
government projects and programs of PPI. More
often than not, his participation was CATALYTIC
in producing INNOVATIVE and, at times,
BREAKTHROUGH SOLUTIONS.
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Equally, and perhaps most important, was his
MENTORING ROLE of all the new (and ..old)
technical staff of PPI, as well as visiting
scientists, and literally scores of graduate and
undergraduate students both at Stevens in the
1990s and more recently NJIT, where he also
held the position of Research Professor of
Chemical Engineering.
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Before joining PPI at the invitation of the late
Prof. Joe Biesenberger, he had already
distinguished himself as an industrial engineer
and technical manager at 1. The Shell
Development Company, where he headed a Process
Engineering Group 2. The Baker Perkins Company,
where he became its Technical Director, and 3.
APV, where he served as VP for Technology Througho
ut his long and rich career his work has been
primarily in the fields of PROCESS EQUIPMENT
DESIGN, and all ASPECTS OF POLYMER PROCESSING,
where he was and will for sometime be considered
primus inter pares, first among equals.
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Prof. Tadmor, past president of the Technion
Israel Institute of Technology, a superb polymer
processing engineer himself, an educator, and an
old and dear friend, wrote about
David Throughout my career I met very many
engineers and researchers in the field of Polymer
processing in industry and academia. Some of
them were superb practicing engineers and others
outstanding scientists in academia. But,
precious few could be both. David had this
exceptional talent. This is not a simple task,
because it requires the capability to extract the
essence from the muddy complex practical reality
and translate it into a well founded theoretical
framework. David was a master of this process.
At my university we appoint from time to time
experienced engineers after many years of
practice to full professors, provided they can
formulate their practical experience into a
teachable body of knowledge grounded in theory.
One finds such people in the schools of medicine
and they are called Clinical Professors. David
Todd was the only CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF POLYMER
PROCESSING that I know.
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One important by-product of a person who is
capable of fusing practice with theory is
innovation. Indeed, David Todd has a very long
and impressive list of innovative contributions
to the field. His ingeniously innovative, simple,
and clear approach to dissecting complex
technical problems helped advance our field and
influenced profoundly the way many industrial and
university practitioners approach their RD work.
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This is the main reason that he was amply
recognized by his peers In 1993, SPE presented
him with its International Award for Engineering
Technology. In 1997, the SPEs Extrusion
Division awarded Dr. Todd its Distinguished
Service Award. In 1998, he received the NAMF
Award for Sustained Contributions to Mixing
Research and Practice from AICHE. In 2002,
the SPE Extrusion Division presented Dr. Todd
with the Heinz Herrman Award for Excellence in
Twin Screw Extrusion. In 2008 he received
the SPE Heinz List Award for Achievements in
Reactive Processing. He is a 2012 nominee
for the James L. White Innovation Award for the
Polymer Processing Society. This in a nutshell
sketches out David Todd, the superb engineer.
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But to us, who had the unique fortune of working
with and knowing him, he was also A beautiful
mind A beautiful person A man of character and
integrity Because of all these attributes, his
vast and reliable knowledge and wise technical
counsel we felt safe and secure with him at
PPI. We also felt proud by association with such
a unique and respected colleague. He was the
Gold Standard, and the touchstone for all of
us, and PPIs Good Housekeeping Seal, as our
Mariann would often remind us.
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I quote the word of my dear friend, Prof. Costas
Gogos who rendered this beautiful tribute during
the the ceremony A Celebration of the Life of
Dr. David Burton Todd held at the Unitarian
Universalist Congregation of Princeton, on March
10, 2012 So, of course, we and I miss him dearly
already. In more than one project review meetings
this past month I could hear myself saying What
would Dave ask, what would his comments be? I
honestly believe, though, that we will keep
functioning professionally as if he was still
with us. This is the ultimate collective tribute
we will be paying to his memory and legacy for a
long time to come. Amen.