University Times

Blaine Leidy, 81, a mechanical engineering professor for 35 year, died Oct. 27, 2004. Known among his colleagues and students as a popular and calm teacher, Leidy was hired as an assistant professor in September 1955; he retired in 1990. Leidy earned his Ph.D. at the University, where he taught thermo dynamics, heat transfer and engineering analysis.

“He was mainly interested in students — an old Mr. Chips type,” said Gene Geiger, a retired Pitt professor of mechanical engineering who shared an office for 15 years with Leidy.

“He took time with the students, which many of the professors wouldn’t do. He had an open-door policy,” Geiger said.

Leidy was the undergraduate coordinator for mechanical engineering, helping students to coordinate their schedules. “You have to be of a certain temperament to do that, you have to give them advice, but you have to be firm,” Geiger said. “Blaine tried to get them on the straight and narrow and to finish up.” He also served as an adviser to graduate students.

“The students very much liked him as a teacher and an adviser,” said Michael Kolar, a professor of mechanical engineering who was chairman during Leidy’s last several years at the University.

-Mary Ann Thomas