Don Stutler Harmer

Visitation will be held at HM Patterson and Son, Oglethorpe Hill, September 19, 2015 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Funeral service will be held at HM Patterson and Son, Oglethorpe Hill at 3:00 pm with the Reverend David Lucey of St. Michael’s Church, Bristol officiating.

Don was born in Washington, DC to Don Gordon Harmer (deceased) and Mildred Stutler Harmer (deceased) on March 11, 1928. He enlisted in the US Navy right out of high school and served in World War II as an Electronics Technician, 2nd class from 1946-1948. He was active in the U. S. Naval Reserve from 1948-1953. He attended college on the GI Bill and graduated cum laude from George Washington University with a BS in Chemistry in 1952. He went on to UCLA in Los Angeles where he earned a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry with a minor in Physics in 1956. He completed his post-doctoral work at Brookhaven National Labs from 1956-1959 where he worked on the Solar Neutrino experimental physics research. He then went on to the Atomic Energy Commission Advanced Study in Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State in 1960.

Don was a Professor of Physics and Nuclear Engineering from 1959 until his retirement in 1996 at Georgia Tech. He made his home in Atlanta and became a fixture at Tech, teaching physics to generations of Tech students. Don’s freshman physics class was famous for introducing first year students to the rigors of college life – and he is personally responsible for thousands of students being able to each claim that they are a ‘hell of an engineer’. Don’s sartorial style kept alive the tradition of absent minded professor and created a trend that is followed to this day by science teachers everywhere of mixing tweed with plaids, stripes, and paisleys.

Don was an early adopter and innovator of computers. He consulted for numerous online computer data acquisition and control systems designed and implemented in such fields as nuclear reactor controls, gas pipeline controls, stock brokerage, psychological testing, radiography (medical and industrial), education systems and high-efficiency refrigeration systems. He consulted on design of computer systems for teaching computer technology as well as consulted for hardware and software computer design and systems training.

Don published over 80 scientific papers on the subjects of nuclear physics, reactor physics, atomic collisions, medical physics, neutron radiography, biophysics, computer controls, computer systems software, educational systems, neutrino studies as well as over 60 unpublished technical reports to agencies such as the Office of Naval Research, Atomic Energy Commission and National Science Foundation and he has one patent pending.

Don could often be found tinkering with his beloved MGs in the garage. He started with a 1954 MG TF that he restored over a span of many years. Along the way, he picked up an MGB roadster. He loved to work on the cars and took them to many shows around the southeast. He was a Lifetime member of the Southeastern MGT Register where he served as editor as well as former president. He was also member of the Peachtree MG Registry and the MG Car Club and the Sigma Nu Fraternity. Don was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, the American Institute of Physics and the American Nuclear Society. He was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Don is preceded in death by his parents, Don Gordon Harmer and Mildred Stutler Harmer and his spouse, Lee Deloache Harmer.

He is survived by his six children and their spouses, Diana Harmer Brown and William Brown, Katherine Harmer Lucey and David Lucey, Nancy Harmer Wiggers and Andrew Wiggers, David Stutler Harmer and Julija Harmer, Muffin Harmer Sewell and Scott Sewell , and Jonathan Harmer and Kate Harmer; his twenty grandchildren, Kevin Brown, Kathy Brown, Lauren Brown, Jennifer Brown, Colbert Lucey, Carolyn Lucey, Diana Lucey, George Lucey, Virginia Lee Lucey, Mary Martha Wiggers, Alton Wiggers, Susan Wiggers, Alex Harmer, Nick Harmer, Joshua Sewell, Blakeney Sewell, Addison Harmer, Xander Coles, Liadan Harmer, and Rowan Harmer; and one great-grandchild Emmalyn Brown.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Georgia Tech Harmer Memorial Fund scholarship at:

Georgia Tech Foundation

Harmer Memorial Fund

760 Spring St. NW, Suite 400

Atlanta, GA 30308

Please make checks payable to Georgia Tech Foundation as that ensures tax-deductibility as a charitable contribution. "Harmer Memorial Fund" should be noted on the memo line

The family wishes to extend their gratitude for the love of life that Don shared with his family and his many friends, for his remarkable intelligence, deep curiosity, quiet faith, love of folk music, passion for old MGs, shared memories of Pawley's Island and especially his love for his family.