Richard Earl Berendzen (September 6, 1938 – November 3, 2022) was an American scientist, professor, and president of American University, specializing in astronomy. His resignation in 1990 came following formal charges of making indecent phone calls to households in the Fairfax area over the course of several weeks that year. In 1992, he returned to American University as a full-time physics professor until his retirement in 2006.
Early life
Berendzen was born in Walters, Oklahoma on September 6, 1938. In 1942, he and his parents, Earl and June Berendzen, moved to Portland, Oregon, where Berendzen developed rheumatic fever and asthma at a young age, which confined him to his room.
Education
Berendzen attended Southern Methodist University, where he pursued a physics degree. He transferred to MIT after his sophomore year On April 7, the board of trustees confronted Berendzen, who resigned on April 8. He was admitted to Johns Hopkins, where he was treated with several therapies addressing his childhood abuse.
Accomplishments
Berendzen received honorary doctorate degrees from Seton Hall University
Personal life
Berendzen met his first wife, Barbara Edwards, at Woodrow Wilson High School. Their first daughter, Deborah, was born during Berendzen's first year at SMU. In 1960, while Berendzen was at MIT, Barbara returned to Dallas with Deborah, and the couple divorced.
Berendzen married Gail Edgar, whom he met at Harvard, in 1964, and the couple had a daughter named Natasha.
Berendzen died of a respiratory ailment at his Arlington, Virginia, home on November 3, 2022. He was 84.
References
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