Richard S Marleau
September 27, 1935 - August 31, 2021
Obituary
MIDDLETON - Richard Sebastian Marleau, of Middleton, Wis., age 85, died on Aug. 31, 2021. During his life, Rich was a loving husband, a devoted father and grandfather, a learned professor of electrical and computer engineering, a respected teacher, a professional engineer as well as a kind and humble person.
Rich was born in Toledo, Ohio, on Sept. 27, 1935, to Arthur D. and Elsie M. (Sebastian) Marleau. He graduated from Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School in 1953. He spent many years working at the family business of Marleau Hardware where he was drawn to electrical systems at a young age. An honors student throughout, Rich received his B.S. (1958) and M.S. (1960) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toledo from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983.
In 1959, Rich married Sandi White who was teaching second grade at the time. Sandi invited her entire class to the wedding so the church was packed! In 1960, Rich and Sandi headed to University of Wisconsin-Madison for his Ph.D. which he completed in 1968. He also began his career as a full-time instructor and researcher. Starting with non-linear control systems, his later research focused on application of computers in control and instrumentation systems and on the use of computers to enhance engineering education.
Professor Marleau was heavily involved in activities in support of education. He served as a research advisor to many M.S. and Ph.D. students as well as visiting scholars from China. He received a variety of teaching honors including a one-year Ford Foundation grant, the Standard Oil and Westinghouse teaching awards as well as the IEEE Student Branch award in recognition of his patience, understanding and thoughtful guidance.
As an active member of the American Society of Engineering Education, Professor Marleau was honored in the summers of 1969 and 1973 with ASEE-NASA grants to NASA-AMES Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., and Stanford University. Both times, Rich and Sandi combined their love of travel with his time in California taking daughter Heidi, born in 1962, on grand road trips through the West. The family also moved to the Twin Cities when Rich spent 1973-74 on leave as an internal consultant to 3M Company.
Using his engineering skills in practical settings, in 1998 Rich became a licensed Professional Engineer serving on the State of Wisconsin registration board for several years. He also drew up the initial design for the house he and Sandi built in Fox Bluff in Middleton in 1976.
Professor Marleau consulted to build academic engineering programs worldwide supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations as well as the United States Agency for International Development. These activities took him and Sandi to Indonesia, Singapore, China, and Pakistan among other countries. In recognition of these contributions, he received the UW-Madison College of Engineering’s Onstad Award for Service to Society in 1994.
Professor Marleau’s many professional accomplishments included election to honorary societies Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Mu Epsilon. As a senior and life member of the IEEE, he retired as an emeritus professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000 after 40 years of service. In addition to his service during his career, Rich was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church where he served coffee to fellow parishioners for many years. He also enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren babysitting when he could.
Rich is survived by his wife, Sandra; daughter, Heidi (Daniel) Marleau; and his two grandchildren, Charlie and Elyse.
A private family ceremony will be held in the meadow at the Natural Path Sanctuary in Verona, Wis. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Agrace HospiceCare, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Fitchburg, WI 53711. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.
Gunderson West
Funeral & Cremation Care
7435 University Ave.
(608) 831-6761
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Gregg Vanderheiden
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Richard was one of the kindest and most thoughtful professor I ever knew -- and - though his kindness - responsible for the existence of one of the most productive Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center in the country. 50 years ago - a small group of students was trying to create a communication aid for a child who could not speak or write and communicated only by slowly pointing out words on a wooden board that the letters had been wood burned into. To give these students a place to meet and work Dr Marleau took all of the analog computers out of his lab and moved them to the back of a storage room - and taught the class from there - freeing up the room his lab was in for the student groups use. That group went on to become the Trace Center which was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 45 years before moving to the University of Maryland, College Park. It is responsible for the first accessibility guidelines for computers and web, the first accessibility features in computers and so much more. (https://trace.umd.edu) The latest is Morphic (https://morphic.org) which is helping elderly people get or stay on the internet. Check out the links to see all that his kindness and encouragement has garnered -- in just this one aspect of his life. None of this would have happened without his selflessness and support for this group of students back then. I only discovered his passing when I went to look him up online to send another thank you to him and share the latest result of his actions (Morphic ) with him. I am so sorry I missed - by just matter of days.. . But I he would just have smiled and denied that he had anything to do with it. That what he did was nothing. it wasn't. Everything Trace has done is just a piece of his legacy. I know there are thousands of people whose lives were changed by him. Thank you Richard.
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Mansour Eslami
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I am very saddened to learn of the passing of Professor Richard Sebastian Marleau a dedicated faculty member who has served the truth all his life. He was dedicated to learn and move forward despite obstacles of all kinds. He was a life senior member of the IEEE and always eager to learn. His Ph.D. research under the guidance of the Late Professor Thomas James Higgins was in Nonlinear Control Theory, way ahead of its time; and then he switched to Computer Engineering developing his Computer-Control and Instrumentation Laboratory that was supported by a consortium of industrials and government agencies including 3M and NASA. He was among the first group of engineers initiating and practicing what became known as real-time control applications. His Laboratory was similar to an industrial setting, for which he had received many awards from the College, IEEE, and other national agencies. Through UW-Madison, he was assigned by various US funding agencies to serve overseas for building academic engineering programs in Indonesia, China and Pakistan. In 2001, and after 40 years of diligent service, teaching and research in Computer Engineering he retired from active teaching. He was kind and supportive of all students without a drop of prejudice and anger. When I began my graduate studies, I was assigned to a different professor whose main interest was not in control theory, and I switched to Professor Marleau in my third year; and he suggested that we should even get help from another mathematics professor the Late Distinguished Professor David Lewis Russell. He was kind and supportive way beyond the ordinary manners. I have always called upon him for advice and he has always been eager to help. Dedicated professors like the Late Professor Marleau are very hard to find. May God bless his soul and keep his family safe.
Mansour Eslami
eslami@agileresearch.com
AS
Akbar Sayeed
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I just heard about the news of Prof. Marleau passing away. Prof. Marleau was the instructor for an electronics class that I took in my first semester as a transfer student in 1989. I did quite well in my exams and was surprised to get a call from "Dick" at my dorm telling me that I did not need to take the final. Since it was my first semester, I first thought it was a prank call until realizing it was Prof. Marleau. I still remember one of his favorite phrases "you have got develop a 'feel' for the problem." He was very right and not many professors - to this day - emphasize that important aspect of learning. We have got to feel it in our guts to really understand the problem. I also remember him once showing me the psoriasis on his elbow in the copying room. I did think much of it then but now it rings close to home as I have my own psoriasis to show! Prof. Marleau was a very kind person and he was one of my references when I applied for graduate school. I will forever remember him fondly. May God rest his soul in peace.
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Dana Lustbader
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Dear Heidi - I'm so sorry for your loss. He was so luck to have you for a daughter. I've so enjoyed reconnecting with you over this past year. All my love, Dana (Bernstein) Lustbader
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Heidi Marleau
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It's a year since your passing, Dad, and we miss you very much. But we hope that you are enjoying family and friends where you are at and playing a few games of cribbage! Love, Heids and San
JJ
Jay Jaeger
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I wish I had know that Prof. Marleau passed away. I took a couple of classes from him, including and independent study class when the first computer in his lab, a PDP-11/20, arrived. Many years later, he graciously, via UW Surplus, donated his PDP-11 lab equipment into my collection where it still remains, and pictures of the PDP-11/20, the PDP-11/40 and PDP-11/45 that came from the labe can be seen at :
https://www.computercollection.net/index.php/pdp-11-family/