Dr. Meshulam Groper obituary

Dr. Meshulam Groper, professor emeritus of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, died June 30. He was 85.

Groper joined the WMU faculty in 1980 and retired in 2000 after more than 20 years of service to the University.

He originally taught in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, but moved to the Department of Mechanical Engineering a year later. He taught courses on such topics as the mechanics of materials, statics, dynamics and mechanical systems for his new department, which subsequently was renamed the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering.

Meshulam Groper

Groper developed numerous new courses and laboratories at WMU. He also directed the Applied Mechanics Institute in his department for many years. The institute brought together University faculty members and students to provide consulting, parts testing, research and other services to industry in West Michigan.

During his early career, Groper focused much of his research on earthquake-resistant structures. During his WMU career, his research interests focused on structural stability, structural connections, similarity and modeling, and experimental stress analysis. He was a co-holder of four patents and wrote or co-wrote dozens of scholarly articles for refereed journals.

Groper earned WMU's Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in 1987 and was nominated three times for the University's Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award. For several years, he was a mentor to WMU students who received research awards.

Active on campus, he served on a variety of departmental, college and Universitywide committees, often as chair or in other leadership roles. He also was a member of several professional organizations.

Before coming to WMU, Groper was a senior researcher at Technion in Israel for seven years and at the Institute of Structural Research in Romania for 10 years. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from University "Al.I. Cuza" Jassy in Romania and a doctoral degree from Technion.

Services

Services have taken place.

Remembrances

The family obituary is available at legacy.com.

Memorial gifts may be made to Hadassah, 1518 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19102.