William B. Russel, a 49 year resident of Princeton, passed away on September 24th. He was 77.

Born in Corpus Christi and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Bill attended Rice University where he earned his B.S. and M.S degrees while also playing intercollegiate baseball in the Southwest Conference. During his five years there, Bill formed an abiding allegiance to Rice as the place which had awakened and nurtured his passion for math. He continued his education with a PhD at Stanford University. There he met and married Priscilla Griffiths, a fellow graduate student. They then moved to England for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.

Arriving at Princeton University in 1974 Bill took a faculty position in the Department of Chemical Engineering (now Chemical and Biological Engineering). During his 42 years at Princeton, Bill served the university as member and chair of his department, director of the Materials Science Institute and, as dean of the Graduate School. He mentored 40 graduate students, who called themselves "Russel's Sprouts" and produced numerous books and papers in the field of colloid science.  His students recall him as patient, kind and gentle blended with high standards and great depth of knowledge and, despite the numerous awards he received, unassuming in manner.

In Bill's final professional chapter as dean of the Graduate School, he determined that a major goal would be to create much needed connections with both the students and the alumni. His first step was restoring and living in Wyman House, the unoccupied dean's house next to the Graduate College. He then hosted frequent 'Dinners with the dean' and 'High Tables' for current graduate students and traveled the world gathering  alumni for receptions and dinners. Bill retired from the university in 2016.

He approached his family life with the same passion and profound sense of responsibility that guided his professional life. Following the arrival of his sons Daniel and Bailey, for 18 years he arose each school day at 6:00 to prepare breakfast for the family, and then walked or biked the boys to school before heading to campus. He would  return  home for dinner before family reading for at least an hour, finally heading into his study to work. An avid hiker, biker and camper, Bill started the boys early on these activities, taking them on a short backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail when they were six and eight in anticipation of a weeklong expedition in the Grand Tetons later that year.  Soccer and track were new to him, having grown up with baseball and basketball, and he learned to appreciate his sons' accomplishments in these sports and, also, in ultimate frisbee which both boys eventually settled on as their sport of choice. In his final years, Bill loved to be outdoors and was often seen walking or biking around town.

Bill is survived by his wife, Priscilla, his sons and daughters-in-laws, Daniel and Lena of Palo Alto, California and Bailey and Annika Walters of Laramie, Wyoming, by his beloved grandchildren, Kai and Katla and by his sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Edwin Keath of Bend, Oregon.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Somos Amigos Medical Mission in the Dominican Republic, (https://somosamigos.org/) in support of his sister's and brother -in-law's volunteer work  there , or to the Princeton Public Library (https://princetonlibrarywv.com/donate/) which Bill enjoyed visiting during his retirement.