Graduates line up for commencement.

A Chemistry Professor’s Gift Will Honor His HMC Mentor

Dennis Diestler

Dennis Diestler ’64

When attending high school in Phoenix, Dennis Diestler ’64 had no idea how HMC admissions officer Bob Rogers would change his life. Rogers made Dennis feel that the College sincerely wanted him to attend. Living in North Dorm, Dennis developed life-long friendships and became the first in his family to graduate from college.

Dennis recalls that the HMC faculty had high expectations of students, just as they do today. One morning chemistry Professor William Sly strolled into the lecture hall and wrote the Schroedinger equation for the hydrogen atom on the blackboard.

Not familiar with the equation, Dennis received an “intellectual kick in the pants” that “drove him into the books more deeply.” But Dennis notes, “Sly and other faculty were always helpful to students.” Every year, including summers, Dennis did research in organic chemistry, which prepared him well for his doctoral program at Caltech.

In 1969, Dennis assumed a professorship in chemistry at Purdue University, where he also met his late wife, Charlan, a sociology professor. Twenty-three years later, the couple moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, to care for Charlan’s ailing mother. There Dennis took a position in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Nebraska dedicated to molecular simulation of fluids in porous materials. Although retired now, he still conducts research with colleagues.

Dennis gives to “repay the College for the great education that he received,” and because generous scholarships allowed him to graduate from Harvey Mudd debt-free. To accomplish his philanthropic goal, Dennis established a charitable remainder unitrust in 2002.

Besides providing an attractive charitable deduction and income during his lifetime, the trust will eventually establish the William Sly Endowed Scholarship Fund. To supplement the first trust, he recently added Harvey Mudd College as a beneficiary of his retirement accounts. Dennis adds, “I feel so fortunate about my ability to do this, and I’m happy to. I encourage others to do the same.”