Emeritus Professor of Engineering Lambert Ben Freund, 81, died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on Oct. 3, 2024. Born on Nov. 23, 1942, to Bernard and Anita Freund of McHenry, Ill., he always seemed surprised by his own life trajectory. The physical work of growing up on a farm stayed with him in spirit as he progressed through the University of Illinois and Northwestern on his way to becoming the Henry Ledyard Goddard University Professor at Brown University. He arrived at Brown as a postdoctoral fellow in 1967, and rose through the ranks to become professor of engineering in 1975, and later Division Chair. He was known both as an outstanding teacher and a pioneering researcher. His work, which has contributed significantly to the basic understanding of the mechanical behavior of engineering materials, resulted in two books and many journal articles.
“Not only a great scientist, but an unusually kind and generous person, as everyone who has ever interacted with him will remember,” said Professor of Engineering and Physics Alex Zaslavsky.
“I have so many fond memories of my interactions with Ben since the time he recruited me to join the faculty at Brown in 1983 (when he served as the Chair of the Division of Engineering at Brown),” said Professor at Large Subra Suresh. “My wife Mary and I will always remember the warmth and kindness both Ben and his wife Colleen showed us and our family during our time at Brown.
“Although I did not have an opportunity to collaborate with Ben in research or teaching while I was at Brown, we decided to embark on a project to co-author Thin Film Materials: Stress, Defect Formation and Surface Evolution, several years after I moved to MIT. From 1997 to 2003, we met in person frequently, both in Cambridge and Providence, to devote considerable effort to this major book project. Several years of hard work culminated in the publication of the book in 2003. Although our academic flavors, research backgrounds, and writing styles were very different, we developed the right tone and format for our combined writing project,” he said.
“Working closely with Ben on this project was one of the most delightful and satisfying professional experiences of my career. I very much appreciated his thoroughness, quantitative rigor, attention to detail, and willingness and openness to alternative ways of interpreting and presenting the material, in addition to his warmth, friendship and thoughtfulness. We were both very pleased with the outcome of this close collaboration and with the impact the book has had since its publication.”
Emeritus professor Sharvan Kumar added, “Ben was a scholar in all senses of the word and a kind and genuine human being who held high values. It was a pleasure to have known and interacted with him.”
Freund lectured widely in the United States and abroad on the applications of mechanics to materials engineering problems. In 1990, he was awarded the Technical Analysis Corporations President’s Award, a Tau Beta Pi teaching award, from Brown. He held visiting professorships at Stanford University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
His research accomplishments were recognized by the Henry Hess Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the George R. Irwin Medal of the American Society for Testing and Materials. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and American Academy of Mechanics. In 1994, a symposium on dynamic failure in modern materials was held in his honor at the California Institute of Technology and in 2011, another symposium to celebrate his pioneering contributions on mechanics research was hosted by Brown.
Freund served the engineering community through professional activities, including as editor of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Cambridge Monographs on Mechanics, and Journal of Applied Mechanics, and as professional consultant. He established a leadership position in determining directions of future research through activities within professional organizations, including as chair of the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME, member of the U.S. National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and U.S. delegate to the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Despite the commitments and achievements of his work, family was Freund’s top priority. He will be sorely missed by his wife of 59 years, Colleen; sons, Jonathan (Amy) of Illinois, Jeffrey (Megan) of Montana and Stephen (Plum) of Massachusetts; and seven grandchildren.