David H. Waldeck, distinguished professor of chemistry, where he served as department chair (2005-2014) and as academic director of the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering (PINSE) starting in 2015, died in February 2026.
A memorial service is planned from 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 4, 2026.
Waldeck, said departmental colleague Sunil K. Saxena, “epitomized the best of the Pittsburgh ethos: down to earth, honest to the core, fair and probably the hardest-working person I have ever met. He was department chair for nine years and during his stint the department grew from strength to strength.
“Dave was amazingly broad minded in his appreciation of science,” Saxena said. “He led the dramatic modernization of our aging building, helped recruit more than a dozen faculty members, and expanded the research profile of chemistry at Pitt. More than the sum of these numbers, he contributed to every aspect of department life — he had inexhaustible energy and there was no matter small enough that he would not be willing to engage with. Personally, to me he was an invaluable mentor and colleague.”
Waldeck was “a towering figure in chemistry,” Saxena recalled. “Soon after his arrival at Pitt in 1985 he became a world leader in the investigation of electron transfer reactions using a breathtakingly diverse range of experimental methodologies (ranging from solution time resolved spectroscopy and electrochemistry to single molecule and spin Hall measurements). The apogee of these efforts came with the discovery that chiral molecules and environments act as filters of the spin of the electron in electron transfer and electron transport processes.”
Chirality is a kind of right-handedness or left-handedness that all living things possess. “This effect, dubbed chirality-induced spin selectivity, which he and Ron Namaan co-discovered, has now become one of the most tantalizing areas of study in the field of physical chemistry.”
Overall, he said, “Dave leaves an enormous legacy, and his efforts will continue to impact the department for more than another generation.”
Waldeck was born in Cincinnati. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago (1983). Following his IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California–Berkeley (1983-1985), he joined the Pitt chemistry faculty.
He published more than 270 research papers and three monographs, including the textbook Principles of Physical Chemistry. Among his many honors were the ACS Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry, the ISE Bioelectrochemistry Prize, the Morley Medal, the Pittsburgh Award, the ACS-WCC Award for Encouraging Women in Chemistry (Pittsburgh Section), and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award.
He was elected as a fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“David was a spectacular colleague and scientist,” said John Cooper, retired chemistry professor and dean of the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences.
“He was an exceptionally thoughtful person, and a clear thinker both scientifically and as an academic leader. He was extremely effective in leading PINSE, especially through the lockdown” — particularly considering that the center has a large amount of equipment to maintain and is run jointly by the Dietrich School and the Swanson School of Engineering. “He was certainly good at balancing all of that and made it work in both schools.
“He had a major international impact on the field, and opened up new ways of thinking about chemical interactions,” Cooper added. “His graduate students really appreciated his thoughtful, careful guidance in developing them as scientists.”
— Marty Levine