| Dr. Erach R. Talaty was born in 1926 in India and received B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D.
degrees in Chemistry from Nagpur University before moving to the United States and
receiving a second Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Ohio State University in 1957. He proceeded
to a post-doctoral fellowship with Nobel Prize winning chemist Robert Woodward at
Harvard University, spent a few years doing research in industry and then completed
another post-doctoral fellowship with Glen Russell at Iowa State University. Dr. Talaty
held faculty positions at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and the University
of South Dakota in Vermillion before coming to Wichita State University as a Professor
in 1969. At this time, the WSU Chemistry department was transitioning from one focused
predominantly on teaching into a strong research-active department and Dr. Talaty
was a major contributor to this process, distinguishing himself as a researcher and
as a teacher and serving a term as department Chair. He was an author on almost 100
scientific publications, covering a 60-year span from 1951 to 2011, and he obtained
many external grants both to fund his own research and to upgrade the infrastructure
of the Chemistry Department. As a teacher, “Dr. T.” was much loved by his students,
often spending hours in his office with groups of students, making sure that they
understood the difficult concepts of General Chemistry or Organic Chemistry that he
was covering in class. His dedication to his students was recognized by a number of
awards, including WSU’s Leadership in the Advancement of Teaching Award, and culminating
with his being named by the Carnegie Foundation as the 1999 Kansas Professor of the
Year. . Talaty was predeceased by his wife, Margaret. He is survived by his sister
Ketayum Gould of VA, two stepdaughters, Judith E. Greene and Erica Rafat of Hawaii.
Memorials have been established in Dr. Talaty's name with: WSU Chemistry Dept, 1845
Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260 and / or Catholic Charity of Hope, 400 N. Emporia, Wichita,
Kansas 67205. A Memorial Service has been scheduled for: 1:00 p.m. Friday at The Cathedral
of the Immaculate Conception, 430 N. Broadway. |
