William Gayle Todd

VICTORIA - William Gayle Todd (November 11, 1940 - January 3, 2018), aka Bill to co-workers, WG to some, Billy to high school friends and Willie UDS (a name I call myself when I had a weak technical thought, UDS means You Dumb Sh*t). This is a self written obit so do not change a thing!

First the rules for the service: informal attire, no ties, no coats, jeans, shorts, whatever; come early, stay late for appetizers and an open bar. Let's have a party!

My proudest personal achievements: Married to Geri Lou, my best friend and true love for fifty-four = years. She stood by me through thick and thin. She was my inspiration. 'Oh, I had the time of my life and I owe it all to you' (Dirty Dancing, one of my favorites). As an only child, she did a fantastic job of raising our four successful professional children: Gayle Todd Salmond (Rene), Wes Todd (Tammy), Gretchen Todd Taraday (Julie) and Dr. Rob Todd. We have five super grandchildren, Bailey, Katey, and Blake Todd; also Asher and Eli Todd Taraday. All are extremely intelligent!

My proudest professional achievements: BS, MS, PhD in Chemical Engineering from 'The' University of Texas Austin, 44 years of industrial jobs. I worked for Cleanse for a summer, Southwestern Refinery for three years, UT Austin ChE department for one year and the rest were for a series companies at the same site, DuPont, Cain Chemical, Occidental Chemical, Lyondell, Equistar and finally Lyondellbasell. Inventor of the Year, 26 Published Articles, 3 Patents, 14 Technical Achievement Awards, Instantaneous Physical Property Predictive Model and the first ever company awarded 'Life Time Technical Innovation Achievement Award', presented in Ferarra, Italy. And yes I had fun and enjoyed almost every minute of it!

A private celebration of his life will follow. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to the National Stroke Association (http://www.stroke.org/ways-give/donate) or to the Challenge for McKetta (https://che.utexas.edu/challenge-for-mcketta/).