John F. Hansen Obituary (1942 - 2017)

John Frederick Hansen, 74, of Normal, passed away at 11:23 a.m., Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at his home.His funeral will be at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at Epiphany Catholic Church, Normalrnwith Rev. Eric S. Powell officiating. Interment will be in St. Anns Catholic Cemetery, Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service, Tuesday at the church. Carmody-Flynn Funeral Home, Bloomington is assisting the family with arrangements.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be directed in memory of Dr. John Hansen to the Department of Chemistry Fund. Checks should be made out to the Illinois State University Foundation, Campus Box 8000, Normal, IL 61790-8000.John was born March 21, 1942 in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, the son of Frederick John and Goldie Viola Gierhart Hansen.He is survived by three brothers, William (Joan) Hansen of River Falls, Wisconsin, David (Barbara) Hansen of Eagan, Minnesota and George (Emily) Hansen of River Falls, Wisconsin.He was preceded in death by his parents and an infant sister, Barbara.John graduated from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls in 1964. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree from Duke University (1967) in Organic Chemistry, John accepted three different post-doctoral positions (The Ohio State University, University of Notre Dame, and Wayne State University). He then accepted an Assistant Professorship in Chemistry at Illinois State University in 1972. In 1980 he did a sabbatical leave at the University of East Anglia in Norwich England.He advanced to Full Professor of Chemistry in 1995. At Illinois State University, 20 graduate students worked with him to obtain their MS degrees and he also mentored over 50 undergraduates. During this time, he published 39 publications mostly in the area of oxazoline compound synthesis and characterization. His first love was always teaching and he truly enjoyed teaching organic chemistry at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. John retired from ISU in 2014. In retirement, he continued to be an avid user of the Constitution Trail.