Distinguished Professor Emeritus Robert Reid Dies

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Robert Reid of the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University died Friday (Jan 23) at a local hospital after a brief illness.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday (Jan. 27) at 1 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station. Visitation is scheduled for Monday evening at Memorial Funeral Home.

Prof. Reid, 87, had a long and illustrious career at Texas A&M, joining the Department of Oceanography-Meteorology as an assistant professor in 1951. As one of the first faculty members in that newly formed department, Reid was instrumental in building the program and shaping its future.

He became an associate professor in 1953 and a professor of civil engineering and oceanography in 1959. He was named a University Distinguished Professor in 1978 and served as head of the Oceanography Department from 1981 until 1987. Upon his retirement in 1987, he was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Oceanography.

Prof. Reid was recruited from Scripps Institution of Oceanography by Texas A&M’s first oceanography department head, Dale F. Leipper, who had worked with Reid at Scripps. Reid earned his master’s degree in oceanography at Scripps in 1948 after having earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Southern California two years earlier.