Lasting Memories

Louis London
Aug. 31, 1913-March 18, 2008
San Rafael, California

Louis London, 94, a former Stanford University mechanical engineering professor, died March 18 at Marin General Hospital following a stroke.

He was born Aug. 31, 1913, in Nairobi, British East Africa (now Kenya). His father owned an ostrich farm and coffee plantation on lands where Theodore Roosevelt once shot big game, according to his son, Alan London.

His family emigrated to the United States in 1921. He attended schools in Oakland and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

He worked briefly for Standard Oil and then taught for a year at Santa Clara University before joining the Stanford faculty. While a student, he met and married his wife, Charlotte. They were together for 61 years until her death in 1999.

He began his Stanford teaching career in 1938 and became a leading authority on heat exchangers, devices which removed unwanted heart from engines, including radiators in automobiles.

He worked for the Bureau of Ships for three years during World War II, beginning a long relationship with the Office of Naval Research.

He was known for using red ink to write criticisms on papers submitted by his students.

He retired from teaching in 1978 but continued to advise graduate students.

He had been living in San Rafael, Calif., the last several years to be near his son.

He is survived by his children, Charles London of Bellevue, Wash., Alan London of San Rafael, and Deborah Buekers Lee of La Honda; sister, Evelyn Madsen; nine grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild.