William Pickard, a senior professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, died Thursday, March 9, 2023, in Portland, Ore., after a short illness. He was 90.
Pickard joined the faculty at Washington University in the early 1960s and spent the majority of his career as a professor in what was then the Department of Electrical Engineering, teaching and conducting research in high-voltage engineering, electrobiology, the biological effects of electromagnetic fields, and biological transport and systems biology. Later in his career, he focused on the theory and practice of massive energy storage for reliable, dispatchable energy. He was a faculty member in electrical engineering for more than 50 years.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1954, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1955 and 1962, respectively. He completed postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pickard is survived by his children, Koré Pickard, her husband and son; and William Pickard. He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Pickard, a professor emerita of biology in Arts & Sciences, in 2019. A private memorial gathering is planned for family early this summer.
Read more on the McKelvey School of Engineering website.
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